|
 Movie
B+ |
Video A- | Audio A+
| Extras B
Al Pacino, Colin Farrel, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel
Macht
director Roger Donaldson | Touchstone Pictures
2003 | Action - Psychological Thriller | PG-13 | 115 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 1.77:1 aspect ratio
| THX-certified
DTS 5.1 |
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Colin Farrel is James Clayton, a new college graduate from MIT.
He is at the top of his class and a whiz of a computer scientist. Al Pacino is
Walter Burke, a CIA recruiter and instructor for new CIA recruits.
James does not believe he is “CIA material”, thinking that all CIA agents of big fat guy sitting around in their offices.
But Walter believes that he is premium CIA material, and warns him that
“Nothing is as it seems”
and tries to convince James to leave behind the boring life of a would-be Dell computer scientist, and join the CIA for a life of service to his country.
After passing numerous exams and interviews, James is shipped off to the top secret CIA training camp, known as “The Farm”.
There, he and other would-be CIA agents are given field training for real-world operations.
They are drilled and grilled until they reach their limits. Everything becomes a test.
They are taught to exploit subjects for human intelligence. Will James
survive “The Farm” and make it as a CIA agent? Or will he become a subject of human intelligence himself?
This intriguing action-thriller had me sitting at the edge of my seat.
The Recruit may not be a big budget action-thriller flick, but I found it to be thoroughly entertaining.
Special Features: audio commentary with
director Roger Donaldson and Colin Farell; "Spy School: Inside the
CIA Training Program" featurette with a never-before-seen look inside
the CIA; deleted scenes (4) with optional commentary
DVD released on 5/27/2003 | Reviewed 7/13/2003
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
| 
United We Stand
