The Recruit Critic Reviews

From the get-go, The Recruit is one of those thrillers that delights in pulling the rug out from under you, only to find another rug below that.Read the full review

A labyrinthine brain twister.Read the full review

As a thriller, The Recruit is merely an entertaining ride. But remember: Nothing is what it seems. It's the subtext -- two actors from different generations faking each other out with skill and affection -- that counts. Read the full review

The whole picture may be hokey, but the first part is agreeably so, the second part not. At the very least, one comes away with a new appreciation of the difficulty of inner-office romance at the CIA. Read the full review

Compelling, if throwaway, drama. Read the full review

Pacino, thankfully, is on-screen enough to keep this stew on a solid low boil.Read the full review

It's the kind of movie you can sit back and enjoy, as long as you don't make the mistake of thinking too much.Read the full review

There's nothing excessively problematical with The Recruit that excising the final fifteen minutes wouldn't cure.Read the full review

Like Christopher Walken or Marlon Brando, Mr. Pacino frequently uses his gifts to make mediocre movies more interesting. Everything else in The Recruit may be tiresomely predictable, but he, at least, is not. Read the full review