Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Recruit (2003) - Farrell and other factors buoy Donaldson's uninspired CIA thriller

8/15/2019

The Recruit (2003) - Farrell and other factors buoy Donaldson's uninspired CIA thriller

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Al Pacino and Colin Farrell look mysterious in black in a cold hallway on this dark poster for Roger Donaldson's The Recruit

James Clayton is a young man who gets recruited by the CIA; he is trained at their facility 'the Farm' and his recruiter enlists him to look for a mole there.

The Recruit is written by Roger Towne (The Natural (1984)), Kurt Wimmer (The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)) and Mitch Glazer (A Very Murray Christmas (2015, TV special)) and directed by Australian master filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Sleeping Dogs (1977)), whose 14th feature it is.
SPOILER Al Pacino (Bobby Deerfield (1977)) stars as the fairly predictable wolf in sheep's clothing, giving a routine performance that frankly feels a bit burnt out.
The Recruit gambles on a monotonous ploy of 'dynamic' photography, (nearly no shot is horizontally balanced), and dialog that seems like taglines; everything is a test, and so on and so forth.
What works in the film still are its interrogation scenes, a car chase and Colin Farrell (Fright Night (2011)), who is very watchable as the young recruit. The film is fast forgotten.

Related posts:

Roger Donaldson: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Thirteen Days (2000) - Electrifying Cuban Missile Crisis thriller
Cocktail (1988) - Cruise an iconic stand-out in Donaldson's masterful drama

Pacino and Farrell dine at a crab restaurant in this clip from the film

Cost: 46 mil. $
Box office: 101.1 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.19 times its cost)
[The Recruit premiered 25 January (Febio Film Festival, the Czech Republic) and runs 115 minutes. Shooting took place in Virginia, Washington DC, and in Ontario, including Toronto, from December 2001 - March 2002. The film opened #1 to a 16.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 52.8 mil. $ (52.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Spain with 4.3 mil. $ (4.3 %). Due to its big stars and spy pedigree, the film likely turned profitable with home video sales and TV sales later on. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. CIA employees reviewed the film in 2009, finding it 'entertaining' but 'ridiculous'. Donaldson returned with The World's Fastest Indian (2005). Pacino returned in Gigli (2003); Farrell in Daredevil (2003). The Recruit is rotten at 43 % with a 5.55/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Recruit?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

8/15/2019

The Recruit (2003) - Farrell and other factors buoy Donaldson's uninspired CIA thriller

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