Saturday - Movies

The Age

Thursday July 10, 2008

Scott Murray

The Recruit (2003)

Channel Seven, 8.45pm

Directed by Ballarat-born Roger Donaldson, The Recruit is a routine but watchable story about James Clayton (Colin Farrell), a newly arrived trainee at the CIA, and his mentor, Walter Burke (Al Pacino), hero of past missions but now committed to shaping the future. Theirs is a complex relationship, sometimes father and son, more often interrogator and victim. The ever-radiant Bridget Moynahan provides the love interest, playing a feisty woman in a truly scary male world. So far so good. But the script, co-written by the revered Robert Towne (who wrote Chinatown), indulges in narrative twists and turns that even the half-asleep will easily predict. The ending is truly awful, though one has to admire Hollywood for allowing so unpatriotic a portrayal of its intelligence operatives to emerge in present times. Farrell mumbles more than smoulders and Pacino largely goes through the paces. It is worth revisiting the early The Godfather movies now and again to remind yourself of how great Pacino can be as an actor.

The Human Stain (2003)

Channel Seven, 12.30am

See Movie of the week, page 33 -- SCOTT MURRAY

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