The Recruit on DVD
Heres a really good thriller, even though we had the bad guy pegged long
before the hero did.
Colin Farrell is a CIA recruit under the tutelage of crusty old veteran agent
Al Pacino. His most important lesson to teach is that everything is a test and
that nothing is as it appears - and that pretty well sums up what goes on in
this movie!
We get to see some interesting spy school stuff off the top as
Farrell and his fellow students are taught the ways of the CIA - but then Farrell
flunks out and is unceremoniously dumped back to his earlier life, or so he
thinks.
As it turns out, his failure was a sham (or was it?) and he actually passed
(or did he?) and his teacher has an assignment for him (or is it?) to smoke
out a mole (or is it?) whos trying to steal a potentially horrifying software
program (or is it?) and pass it onto the enemy (perhaps). Worst of all, the
mole is the woman (Bridget Moynihan) with whom hes falling in love. Or
is she?
We wont spoil the story, which we found probably the most enjoyable such
flick since The Bourne Identity. Watch it
yourself for a gripping 115 minutes in the home theater.
Farrell is great, but not surprisingly hes outclassed by Pacino here.
And thats fine.
The DVD is wonderful, with superb picture quality and audio thats about
as good as you could want. The THX-certified disc is presented in anamorphic
widescreen (16x9 TV compatible), and the details are so sharp you can almost
count the hairs in Farrells stubble. Audio is offered in a choice of Dolby
Digital or dts 5.1 surround and itll give your home theater system a nice
workout.
Incidentally, the box says the films aspect ratio is 1.77:1 and claims
that shows more of the film than you could see in theatres. In the home theater,
the picture translates to 16x9 the same way 1.85:1, 1.78:1 and 1.66:1 do, so
you may not notice a difference unless you say The Recruit in the theater and
noticed it a tad narrow.
Then there are the extras. First up is a running commentary with director Roger
Donaldson and star Colin Farrell. Theres also Spy School: Inside
the CIA Training Program, a supposedly never before seen look inside the
CIA. We wouldnt count on the CIA having given away its most secret secrets,
but what the heck.
You also get deleted scenes with optional commentary.
The Recruit, from Touchstone Home Video
115 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1, 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital and
dts 5.1 surround
Starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynihan, Gabriel Macht
Produced by Roger Nirnbaum, Jeff Apple, Gary Barber
Written by Roger Towne and Kurt Wimmer and Mitch Glazer, directed by Roger Donaldson
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