:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: Friday, January 31, 2003 ::

It's been almost a week since the Super Bowl and Me-Shawn Johnson is still saying, "I got a Ring." Just repeating it constantly... I haven't seen anyone this enamored with a ring since Gollum was seen carrying on about his "precious." The main differences being Me-Shawn is somewhat less CG looking and considerably more annoying.

I saw "The Recruit" last Wednesday for free at a screening sponsored by KROQ. A friend of mine who works for the station got a few of us free passes at the AMC Theaters in Downtown Disney. I wasn't expecting too much despite the presence of Al Pacino but considering it was a free, I was surprisingly entertained. The story itself is fairly by the books and the characters are your standard suspense thriller types and some of the supposed plot twists were obvious from even the trailer. But the whole was better than the sum of its parts thanks to some sharp directing and good acting across the board. It was far more entertaining than any standard action thriller has any right to be.

Colin Farrell was quite solid as the lead guy and showed far more range than in his higher-profile role in "Minority Report." The svelte Bridget Moynahan was quite good. She took a role that could have been little more than eye candy and brought some depth and emotion to the character. The fact that she and Farrell had real chemistry helped. (Ignore my bias towards tall brunettes with pretty eyes and a great smile for the moment.) Al Pacino was great as the grizzled CIA veteran who's responsible for training the recruits. Even when he's not being bombastic he has the ability to completely dominate a scene even during the lower key parts of the movie. Particularly a scene where he's explaining the rigors of working for the CIA to Farrell while eating burritos on a park bench. I'm telling you, this Al Pacino kid has a bright future in acting ahead of him.

I wouldn't call it a must-see but it's a solid popcorn thriller that's better than your typical January-release movie. It's certainly worth a look.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 11:10 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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