It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The Recruit (2003): Dir: Roger Donaldson / Cast: Colin Farrell, Al Pacino, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht, Kenneth Mitchell: Total mind game where viewers are sent through the same sort of manipulation as the hero. The title seems to suggest recuperation of our past. Colin Farrell seeks answers regarding his father who was a C.I.A. agent who died in 1990. An encounter with Al Pacino has him asking more questions but instead he is trained as a C.I.A. agent. He assigns Farrell to find out who a fellow trainee is working for and from there he is led deceit, betrayal and near death situations. Setup gives backgrounds then the screenplay delivers numerous effective plot twists until unveiling a mindless conventional climax. Directed by Roger Donaldson after having directed such crap as Species and Dante's Peak. Farrell presents emotional confusion and frustration as he is sucked into the past. He survives out of luck and intellect. Pacino succeeds as a connection to the past who tests Farrell for a mission that will reveal certain people as something other than what they are presenting. Bridget Moynahan makes a great impression as a female recruit whom Farrell is ordered to follow. The romantic elements are obvious. Gabriel Macht is too brief as a trainee, and other roles are pretty much standard issue for this sort of film. Plays like an episodic crime show and that's not a compliment. Score: 5 ½ / 10

'The Recruit' isn't the finest thriller you must've seen in the early 2000's, but its a worthy watch nonetheless. Engaging & well-acted, this box-office hit definitely isn't without merit! 'The Recruit' Synopsis: A brilliant young CIA trainee is asked by his mentor to help find a mole in the Agency.'The Recruit' has a terrific first-hour, as all the sequences as well as its characters motives, succeed in keeping you engaged & thrilled. The second-hour is slightly problematic, thats mainly because the twists in this hour lack shock-value. The identity of the culprit doesn't come as a shock & that certainly isn't a good thing for a thriller. Nonetheless, the pace is nicely maintained almost throughout.Roger Towne, Kurt Wimmer & Mitch Glazer's Screenplay is superb in parts, but loose at times. A better finale, would've only enhanced the overall impact. Roger Donaldson's Direction is stylish. Stuart Dryburgh's Cinematography is eye-filling. David Rosenbloom's Editing is fair.Performance-Wise: Al Pacino owns 'The Recruit'. The Thespian ignites the screen on fire & dominates every frame he's in. Colin Farrell is excellent. He's so good in here! Bridget Moynahan is first-rate, matching up-to Pacino & Farrell at every step.On the wholes, 'The Recruit' works, despite some flaws. Watch it!

And it's true the movie could in theory have had a more sophisticated (ambiguous) ending, but there comes a time, after wading through all the trollop on the market, that one just sinks back and decides to enjoy a better movie for all it's worth.And this is such a movie: directed by the capable Roger Donaldson who directed the taut thriller No Way Out and co-authored by a writer on The Natural, this one keeps going at a brisk pace with excellent editing and super soundtrack from Klaus Badelt of POTC1 fame. Farrell - who actually comes off smaller than life what with all the tripe written about him, and that's not a bad thing - and former fashion model Moynahan make the sparks fly. You feel for the protagonists and that's an essential ingredient of any good movie.But Pacino: he's great at whatever he does but is he fated to have secondary roles now? Bah.There's a bit of a 'Spy Game' feel to things but there's no shameless copying going on. There just aren't many movies in this genre. And Spy Game doesn't have the thrill and suspense this one has. Yes, you might eventually figure everything out before the denouement, but you won't be upset. And odds are you won't figure everything out anyway - some yes; all of it - no.As for that ending: some people would perhaps prefer more ambiguity. On several planes. Others would say the ending is ambiguous enough. At least on one plane, perhaps several.Nothing is what it seems.

I'm going to jump right to the chase in this review, so SPOILER ALERT! The ending left me with nagging questions. Supposedly, James Clayton was born to be a spook (it's in his blood), so how come he can't tell a gun loaded with blanks from one loaded with real bullets. He even checked the magazine. We have to assume he knows what real bullets look like, or what the kick from real bullets feels like when he pulls the trigger. And if his instinct is so utterly perfect, why wouldn't have have known that the gun was empty by the final scene and thwarted Burke's attempt to commit suicide by "cop?" We all know that the keener spooks, cops, and detectives count the shots. They've been doing it for years (at least in Hollywood).But the overall hole in the plot was: why was Clayton even given the assignment by Burke in the first place if all Burke wanted was the "Ice Nine" program code? He'd convinced Layla and Zack to pull off the theft of the code so why on earth would he need to have Clayton stop them? Every reason I've come up to explain this "intrigue" ends in the conclusion that he'd have to kill everyone involved anyway to get away with the caper in the end.As far as those who've said that the plot was too convoluted with too many twists and turns, well, this is the world of espionage and as the movie stated, nothing is what it seems. However, as a person with critical thinking ability, I discerned that too much was either overlooked or ignored, or the producers just went with the script hoping viewers would buy a "just OK" movie.I had been planning on giving it an 8 up until the last 10 minutes and then everything just went south for me. The Jason Borne series puts this type of project to shame.