James Clayton is a young programmer who's spent years trying to figure out what happened to his father. He's working at a bar one night when a man who indicates he works for the CIA approaches him and hints that he has information about James' father. The man, Walter Burke, is there to recruit James to the CIA.

After initially declining the offer, James reconsiders it due to the possibility that he might learn more about what happened to his father. Then it's off to The Farm to undergo training as a potential CIA operative, where he soon learns that no one, not even his fellow classmates, can truly be trusted. That's just the start, however - James is eventually faced with a world filled with so much deception he can't be sure of anything.

I first saw this in theaters. When it came across my desk at work, I decided a rewatch was in order. Although I'd forgotten quite a bit of the movie, I still remembered the big twist.

My favorite part of the movie was probably the portion at The Farm, minus the brewing attraction between James and Layla. True, it was just building up to the more twisty stuff later on, but I enjoyed seeing what the trainees went through.

The action was decent and the story was nicely twisty, but I'm not surprised I forgot so much of the middle portion of the movie. This was a movie that relied a lot on Al Pacino's charm and overall great performance, as well as Colin Farrell's expressive eyebrows.

Extras:

Deleted scenes, a featurette about CIA training (I either didn't watch this or it wasn't particularly memorable), and commentary by the direct and Colin Farrell (didn't listen to this).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

2022 movie #222. 2003. Clayton (Farrell) is recruited by old-hand Burke (Pacino) to the CIA. His 1st assignment is to root out a mole. But as he learned at "The Farm" (CIA training center), everything is not as it seems and everyone lies. Pretty good thriller. ( )