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THE RECRUIT by Tom McCurrie
According to the ads for THE RECRUIT, "In the CIA, nothing is what it seems." Unfortunately, in the screenplay for THE RECRUIT, everything is what it seems.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)
Colin Farrell plays a Young Turk who trains at the CIA's spy school, known as "The Farm." His savvy mentor, played by Al Pacino, puts the newbie on a special mission: unmask a traitor at Langley. The chief suspect? The hottest spy since Modesty Blaise -- Bridget Moynahan.
Written by Roger Towne, Kurt Wimmer and Mitch Glazer, THE RECRUIT does have a damn good structure. The First Act begins with Farrell's training at "The Farm," then quickly develops a sensual edge as he strikes romantic sparks with fellow recruit Moynahan. This relationship propels us into the Second Act, where Farrell ends up washing out of the program by the mid-point. But this is only cover for Farrell's real mission: to smoke out Moynahan the mole. This quest (and the complications that arise from it) sustains the picture till the very end.
The characterization also scores. Haunted by the mysterious death of his father, Farrell learns that his boring old dad may have been a secret agent. So he joins the Agency to find out what's what. This personal history gives Farrell's character some dimension, and provides the audience with a strong rooting interest.
Still, at their core, spy movies are about deadly secrets and shifting identities -- this means their screenplays must keep us guessing for them to work. Even something as cartoony as James Bond needs a bombshell revelation to justify its place in the spy genre. (DIE ANOTHER DAY had one with Toby Stephens' villain turning out to be a genetically-altered North Korean psycho.)
The trouble is, THE RECRUIT gives us none. It may be about secrets and identities, but it doesn't leave us guessing one bit.
That's because we know who the traitor is almost immediately: Mentor Al. And it's not just because Pacino sports a Mephistopheles beard and chews the scenery like he's auditioning for THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE 2 (though that's part of it). It's simply because there's no one left to be the bad guy but Al.
Let me explain. THE RECRUIT is incredibly underpopulated, a Whodunit without enough Whos to go around. The only characters of any consequence are Farrell, Moynahan and Pacino. We know Farrell isn't the traitor 'cause he's the lead (and why would he be chasing himself?). And we know Moynahan isn't the traitor because spy movies are like murder mysteries -- the first suspect is always a red herring. So who do we have left? Ta-Da! Pacino the Mentor. Instead of the guy you'd least expect, we get the guy we all expect, killing audience interest stone dead. Worse yet, we have to wait an hour for this "twist" to kick in. By that time, the only thing the audience is looking forward to is the end credits. Not good.
This is far cry from the superb twist at the end of director Roger Donaldson's previous spy thriller NO WAY OUT, where Kevin Costner's ostensible hero was in fact the traitor "Yuri" all along. This "rock your world" revelation is something every spy movie should have. Why couldn't this twist have worked in THE RECRUIT? Because Costner wasn't chasing anybody -- he was trying to bust the frame Gene Hackman put him in. If he was chasing Yuri the whole movie, he would have been chasing himself and that would have been ridiculous.
The rule in comedies is to always keep 'em laughing. Spy thrillers have a rule of their own: always keep 'em guessing. That's one rule worth following.
Responses, comments and general two-cents worth can be E-mailed to gillis662000@yahoo.com.
A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television, Tom McCurrie has worked as a development executive and a story analyst. He is currently a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.
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