The Recruit

Blu-ray Review

Touchstone

Release: June 3, 2008

MSRP: $34.99

The Recruit stars a very intelligent computer programmer named James Clayton, played by Colin Ferrell. He is one of the recruits brought on to a CIA training facility called the Farm. He was brought on by CIA recruiter Walter Burke, played by Al Pacino. The film has a variety of extremely entertaining twists and turns along the way, and managed to garner enough momentum all the way through to keep the view in-tune, despite some of the holes.

Along with Clayton, some of the other recruits include Zack (Gabriel Macht), and Layla (Bridget Moynaham). Clayton goes through some major highs and lows as the CIA training goes on, but as the film progresses, you realize something is terribly wrong.

The plot thickens as Clayton begins to suspect that his father was actually a CIA agent, and hopes to have all of his questions answered while on The Farm.

For those who love a good film with plenty of twists, you will surely enjoy The Recruit. The second the viewer sits back and relaxes you will find yourself having something thrown at you that you did not expect to say the least.

Colin Farrell plays a great role along with Al Pacino here, as they are both on the top of their game.

The only issue with this thriller is that once you watch it once, the mystique of it is really gone.

The video quality is solid as it is presented in 2:35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p using the VC-1 codec. The transfer is absolutely spotless from start to finish with great black levels, sharp colors, and more.

The flesh tones and levels of detail are also top notch, a great transfer and a big step up from the DVD release.

The audio has been presented in PCM 5.1 and does a great job of immersing you in the action and activity of the film. The dialogue is top notch on the center channel, and when needed the score and sound effects kick into high gear.

In terms of special features, there are included deleted scenes which have optional commentary with them by Roger Donaldson and Colin Farrell. These run for around 6-minutes or so in total.

There is also an audio commentary track by director Roger Donaldson and star Colin Farrell. These two do a great job of talking about how well they worked together on the film, how it all came about, etc.

Beyond these, there is a nice feature which looks into CIA training facilities called Spy School: Inside the CIA Training Program. This runs for around 16-minutes and features some very interesting information.

Overall The Recruit is a solid movie with some great twists and turns on Blu-ray. There are a few nice special features, but nothing really over the top. The bottom line is that fans of thrillers with some great plot turns will find a lot of enjoyment from The Recruit. Due to the slim extras though, this may be best served as a great weekend rental.

Film: 8.0

Al Pacino and Colin Farrell put in some great work here, and the plot does a good job of never allowing you to rest and feel comfortable with what is going on.

Video: 8.7

A great video transfer with solid black levels, sharpness, etc.

Audio: 8.5

The audio is very immersive, using the rear channels when needed to pump up the intensity.

Special Features: 6.5

Nothing too over-the-top, but some decent extras to add to the release.

Final Score: 8.0