The Anti-Diesel.

So it came to pass that while looking for a movie to watch with a friend on Friday night, that I happened across The Recruit, an Al Pacino/Colin Farrell flick that I had been vaguely aware of during its theatrical run, yet had somehow managed to miss. Seeing that neither of us had yet viewed the movie, I decided to get it.

Upon viewing the film, both of us were left to comment that it was best that we had seen the film on video instead of in the theater, because The Recruit is one film where the plot is twistier than an Auntie Anne's cinnamon pretzel.

However, while The Recruit does draw the viewer in and while it is enjoyable to watch, it is ultimately not as satisfying as a cinnamon pretzel from the aforementioned Auntie Anne's. The Recruit is an almost totally serious minded movie, aside from some dialogue here and there; the film is largely bereft of comic relief.

It’s almost like the producers of The Recruit wanted to make the movie as serious-minded as they possibly could, perhaps in reaction to the recent glut of dumbed down spy movies that dominated the box office in the past year (XXX, the dismal big-screen version of I Spy, even the lighthearted attempt by Chris Rock). In this way, the film can be seen as a smarter version of the Vin Diesel flick or a darker Bourne Identity with an ending that actually makes sense.

One thing about The Recruit is the fact that it doesn't really waste time with extraneous action. It plunges us right into the story. We first see James D Clayton (Colin Farrell) as a recent MIT graduate whose showing off a computer program he has developed called Spartacus. Many prospective buyers are interested in acquiring this software, yet the one who wins out is Walter Burke (Al Pacino), a CIA man who entices him with some interesting tidbits of information. That is enough to lead him to turn down an offer from Dell computer (or maybe he found the word "Dude" really really annoying).

After accepting and passing a few rudimentary tests, Clayton is sent to the farm, which is the CIA's equivalent of a military boot camp. The drill instructor is Burke and unlike most training camps, there are actually women here. Or at least one woman named Layla ("Like the song" Clayton asks). Clayton and Layla share a certain level of attraction, which may (or may not) turn out to be important later on in the film.

Those are the key words with this film, may or may not. As Pacino says early on, nothing is what it seems and that point is driven home to us throughout the movie. There are plot twists galore throughout the movie, all the way up to the last two minutes as if director Roger Donaldson wanted to keep the audience transfixed all the way through.

The Recruit is so loaded with suspense and drama, that there is little of the loud action that characterized the aforementioned films. In a way, that's a sort of refresher after the mind-numbing dumbness of such films, yet those who are going in expecting lots of action may be disappointed.

Acting? Well Pacino is quite good (as usual), although this role (The Donnie Brasco/Devil's Advocate type one) is one he could easily play in his sleep by now. As for Farrell, he proves that he can out-act Vin Diesel and many of his contemporaries, although he still has a way to go before showing off his full talent.

The acting is good overall, the two main characters are interesting, the film is well directed and there is plenty of drama and thrills. Yet The Recruit ultimately winds up not leaving the viewer as completely satisfied as it could have. I can't put my finger on why exactly. I think it may have something to do with the fact that all the plot twists and things gets so neatly resolved at the end, almost as if Martha Stewart came in with her script decorator at the end ("add one hidden microphone here directly from Radio Shack and one hidden camera from...").

The film is very enjoyable, very fun to watch and it's nice that it doesn't outright insult the intelligence of the audience the same way the aforementioned Diesel Fuel vehicle did. Yet as Roger Ebert once write, it's hard to completely enjoy a movie that obviously seems to be toying with you.