Review – The Recruit

Okay, this explains a lot. I’ve been wondering why spy movies have been using other agencies (particularly the NSA) in plots of the sort that almost always used to call for the CIA. I thought it probably had something to do with “the Company” becoming a cliché and movie makers looking for something a little fresher. But as it turns out – at least if this outing is any indication – that folks are bypassing the former spymasters because now they’re focusing on some of the most phenomenally boring high jinks ever. The story has something to do with an obnoxious old prima donna teacher playing brain games with an obnoxious young recruit at the Agency’s training facility. There’s some kind of sinister software smuggling going on here, but to be honest I lost interest in it around midway through and watched the back half of the movie out of the corner of my eye while I put a bookshelf together. Sad, too. I can remember a day when Al Pacino was good enough to keep me interested even in a bad script. Well, the next time he phones in a performance he needs to phone it in to someone else. See if desperate