Back to trending
The Recruit

The Recruit

Action · Thriller · 2003

A brilliant CIA trainee must prove his worth at the Farm, the agency's secret training grounds, where he learns to watch his back and trust no one.

Movie details

The Recruit

“Trust. Betrayal. Deception. In the C.I.A. nothing is what it seems.”

2003 Action · Thriller 1h 55m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.6 / 10

146K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

43 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

56 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A brilliant CIA trainee must prove his worth at the Farm, the agency's secret training grounds, where he learns to watch his back and trust no one.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Recruit?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Chief of Station

Chief of Station

Action · 2024

After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.

Blacklight

Blacklight

Action · 2022

Travis Block is a shadowy Government agent who specializes in removing operatives whose covers have been exposed. He then has to uncover a deadly conspiracy within his own ranks that reaches the highest echelons of power.

16 Blocks

16 Blocks

Action · 2006

An aging cop is assigned the ordinary task of escorting a fast-talking witness from police custody to a courthouse, but they find themselves running the gauntlet as other forces try to prevent them from getting there.

The Amateur

The Amateur

Thriller · 2025

After his life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack, a brilliant but introverted CIA decoder takes matters into his own hands when his supervisors refuse to take action.

The Killer Elite

The Killer Elite

Crime · 1975

Mike Locken is one of the principal members of a group of freelance spies. A significant portion of their work is for the CIA, and while on a case for them one of his friends turns on him and shoots him in the elbow and knee. His assignment, to protect someone, goes down in flames. He is nearly crippled, but with braces is able to again become mobile. For revenge as much as anything else, Mike goes after his ex-friend.

RED

RED

Action · 2010

After surviving an assault from a squad of hit men, retired CIA black ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team for an all-out war. Frank reunites with old Joe, crazy Marvin and wily Victoria to uncover a massive conspiracy that threatens their lives. Only their expert training will allow them to survive a near-impossible mission -- breaking into CIA headquarters.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Action · 2014

Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

Back in Action

Back in Action

Action · 2025

Fifteen years after vanishing from the CIA to start a family, elite spies Matt and Emily jump back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Action · 2016

An ordinary suburban couple finds it’s not easy keeping up with the Joneses – their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors – especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. “Jones” are covert operatives.

The Union

The Union

Action · 2024

A New Jersey construction worker goes from regular guy to aspiring spy when his long-lost high school sweetheart recruits him for an espionage mission.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Roger Donaldson

Written by

Mitch Glazer · Roger Towne · Kurt Wimmer

Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell

James Clayton

Al Pacino

Al Pacino

Walter Burke

Bridget Moynahan

Bridget Moynahan

Layla Moore

Gabriel Macht

Gabriel Macht

Zack

Karl Pruner

Karl Pruner

Dennis Slayne

Eugene Lipinski

Eugene Lipinski

Husky Man

Mike Realba

Mike Realba

Ronnie Gibson

Court is in session

Put The Recruit on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.