Its screenplay keeps us on our toes in terms of plotting and expectations, which makes it easier to forgive all the questions the lackadaisical finale brings up.
Comment
02/24/03
The Recruit (2003)
43
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:163
Fresh:70
Rotten:93
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: This polished thriller is engaging until it takes one twist too many into the predictable.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: James Clayton is fired up. A bartender by night and computer hacker in the few hours of daylight for which he manages to leave his water bed, the kid is flying high, on a roll with a laid-back... [More]
Starring: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht
Director: Roger Donaldson
Reviews for The Recruit
An enjoyably forgettable espionage thriller marked more by these two actors going toe-to-toe as if they're in an acting masterclass rather than a Hollywood movie.
02/24/03
Suspenseful and secretive throughout. The audience finds itself questioning the motives of even its favorite characters.
02/21/03
Without the propulsive thrust of either Spy Game or Enemy of the State, two far more engaging movies about government skullduggery, the movie gets bogged down in the same types of twists that carried it through the first half.
02/19/03
The inherent talkiness of this kind of story is mitigated in The Recruit by various exercises in which things get blown up and mock houses are invaded entertainingly.
02/18/03
Here I suspected the ultimate villain almost from the very beginning -- and, if I wasn't fooled, I can't imagine anyone else will be, either.
02/12/03
Rather predictable but slick entertainment.
02/09/03
a little bit of Nixon-era government conspiracy trickery polished up for the new millennium
02/09/03
It doesn’t know how to finish in a satisfying fashion, thus dragging the rest of the film down with its conclusion.
02/08/03
Why ask an audience not to believe what they’re seeing when they’ve already seen it. Give me 24’s CTU any hour of the week.
02/07/03
Although it's always kind of a bummer when a film lets me down with a lame ending, I have to admit that everything preceding the ending was fun.
02/06/03
...the film wins for its story, camera work and Farrell’s performance.
02/06/03
The Recruit weighs in like a porous brick of recycled polypropylene.
02/05/03
[Donaldson] has done a remarkable job in keeping the suspense constant throughout the whole film.
02/05/03
It's not good enough to like, but it's not bad enough to dislike either. It's simply an adequate two hours of mildly entertaining professionalism that scales the heights of so-soism.
02/05/03
…cinematic comfort food, filling us up until more nourishing fare comes along. It's a pity the filmmakers couldn't do more with it.
02/04/03
How shocked can you be by the eventual deceits and betrayals when you’ve been endlessly warned that NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS?
02/04/03
Time wondering if Saddam watches spy movies like these to try and get some insight into the CIA: 105 minutes.
02/04/03
To get your money's worth from this film, I suggest you walk out before the last 15 minutes.
02/03/03
...long before any real intrigue begins, the film's litany of elementary plot twist are stretched out on the screen like a road map.
02/03/03
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