Walter Burke (Al Pacino), a CIA recruiter spots James Clayton (Colin Farrell), a computer whiz and barman in a bar. At the start of the film, we learn that James is on a quest to find out the truth about his father who disappeared when he was a boy and may have been a CIA agent. Walter uses this information to manipulate and convince James to sign up for training to join the CIA. There, he meets and falls for fellow trainee, Layla whose movements he is later asked to track when Walter suspects that she is a CIA mole and is trying to get her hands on a secret computer programme.
For his first mainstream lead role, Colin Farrell gives a confident and charismatic performance. His unshaven and rumpled appearance combined with good looks give him enough sex appeal to carry the film. Al Pacino is always a compelling presence on the cinema screen but here, I feel that he somewhat coasts through the proceedings on his way to an easy pay packet.
I spent much of the film not really caring about the characters, their motives or the consequences of their actions, e.g. what is the big deal of this secret computer programme that James has been instructed to get hold of? You also don't really get the sense of what the aim of the rigorous training is, only a vague one that the job of the CIA is to save the world. This is communicated through Al Pacino's character: `We believe in good and evil We believe in right and wrong Our cause is just.' Because of my vagueness on the film's events, the film bore no tension or excitement for me.
For his first mainstream lead role, Colin Farrell gives a confident and charismatic performance. His unshaven and rumpled appearance combined with good looks give him enough sex appeal to carry the film. Al Pacino is always a compelling presence on the cinema screen but here, I feel that he somewhat coasts through the proceedings on his way to an easy pay packet.
I spent much of the film not really caring about the characters, their motives or the consequences of their actions, e.g. what is the big deal of this secret computer programme that James has been instructed to get hold of? You also don't really get the sense of what the aim of the rigorous training is, only a vague one that the job of the CIA is to save the world. This is communicated through Al Pacino's character: `We believe in good and evil We believe in right and wrong Our cause is just.' Because of my vagueness on the film's events, the film bore no tension or excitement for me.