(rated PG-13, 105 mins.)
As though teaming the sexy Al Pacino with the new brand of macho hunk, Collin Farrell isn’t enough, the movie mysteriously works even with its been-there-done-that style. And besides, Pacino needed a hit post “Simone” with his gravely voice and his own Pacino-genre domineering skill. Farrell continues his movie stealing skills making him a household name, post “Minority Report”, in this story that opens the doors on the CIA. James Clayton (Farrell) lacks the attitude of a typical recruit, but he’s smart, a computer wiz, aggressive while paranoid simultaneously, has the right beard stubble with piercing dark eyes, and just the man CIA’s Walter Burke (Pacino) wants in the agency. But first he has to survive the Agency’s secret training. But what’s a movie without a girl? And in this one it’s Layla (Bridget Moynahan) one of Clayton’s fellow recruits. As the movie twists and turns into entertaining surprises — one rug is pulled out from under you, another is just below the surface, in a game of the CIA’s old maxim that rings true — “trust no one” and “nothing is what it seems.” Director Roger (Thirteen Days) Donaldson seems to have a fetish with behind the door politics, war and the making of history, and makes good.
