History Film / TheRecruit

* BatmanGambit: An impressive one on Clayton's part.

* LargeHam: [[Spoiler: Burke, after he reveals his true nature, becomes a ''lot'' more theatrical, especially in his final scenes. Of course, he is played by Al Pacino so it's hardly surprising.]]

* MotiveRant: [[spoiler: Burke actually introduces himself by saying his motivations about the lousy pay, the poor relationships, and the lack of respect for the reasons he turned against them. He just tells this to the recruits.]]

** Actually averted, if you pay attention, there aren't any drill sergeants screaming, but rather experts teaching the recruits their new tradecraft. Hell, when they are all woken up in the morning, the voice over the P.A. greets them with a "good morning" before politely telling them to head out. That being said, the things they are learning aren't exactly skills that you get right the first time and if you fail to learn quick, you are dropped.

* ParanoiaFuel: Burke deliberately encourages this with recruits as does the movie.

* SecretTestOfCharacter:

%%* TrainingAccident

%%* ColdBloodedTorture
* DisappearedDad: Clayton's motivation

%%* RageAgainstTheMentor
%%* RedHerringMole: [[spoiler: Layla.]]

** And played straight given that part of the training is a faked abduction where the recruit is physically and psychologically abused and held in solitary confinement until breaking.
* ViewerFriendlyInterface

%%* ViewerFriendlyInterface
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: So... [[spoiler: did everyone forget about Zack?]]
** [[spoiler: It is likely that the agency didn't care at that point as they knew that Clayton would be a valuable agent and the death of Zack while tragic wasn't worth worrying about at that point. Clayton was acting in good faith on the word of a rogue superior and it could be seen as a CareerBuildingBlunder for him later on. ]]

A 2003 spy thriller starring Creator/ColinFarrell as James Clayton, an MIT computer whiz, and Creator/AlPacino as Walter Burke, a UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} operative who recruits James and becomes his instructor at The Farm, the CIA's field agent training facility. James seemingly washes out of the program after finally cracking during a kidnapping and interrogation "exercise" (which he had, as intended, believed was real) when the interrogators play on his feelings for fellow trainee Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan). After James has left The Farm, however, Burke reveals to him that his washing out was a cover created to allow him to take a low level CIA job and help Burke ferret out a mole within the Agency who is trying to steal the top-secret computer virus program Ice-9... and the mole just might be Layla.

A 2003 spy thriller starring Creator/ColinFarrell as James Clayton, an MIT computer whiz, and Creator/AlPacino as Walter Burke, a {{CIA}} operative who recruits James and becomes his instructor at The Farm, the CIA's field agent training facility. James seemingly washes out of the program after finally cracking during a kidnapping and interrogation "exercise" (which he had, as intended, believed was real) when the interrogators play on his feelings for fellow trainee Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan). After James has left The Farm, however, Burke reveals to him that his washing out was a cover created to allow him to take a low level CIA job and help Burke ferret out a mole within the Agency who is trying to steal the top-secret computer virus program Ice-9... and the mole just might be Layla.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* ShoutOut: Ice-9, the virus, gets its name from the KurtVonnegut book ''Cat's Cradle.'' Burke even explains the reference in the film.

%%* KansasCityShuffle by Burke.

* ColdBloodedTorture

* KansasCityShuffle by Burke.
* RageAgainstTheMentor
* RedHerringMole: [[spoiler: Layla.]]

* TrainingAccident

* ViewerFriendlyInterface

** [[Spoiler: It is likely that the agency didn't care at that point as they knew that Clayton would be a valuable agent and the death of Zack while tragic wasn't worth worrying about at that point. Clayton was acting in good faith on the word of a rogue superior and it could be seen as a CareerBuildingBlunder for him later on. ]]

** Forgot he was killed?

A 2003 spy thriller starring ColinFarrell as James Clayton, an MIT computer whiz, and AlPacino as Walter Burke, a {{CIA}} operative who recruits James and becomes his instructor at The Farm, the CIA's field agent training facility. James seemingly washes out of the program after finally cracking during a kidnapping and interrogation "exercise" (which he had, as intended, believed was real) when the interrogators play on his feelings for fellow trainee Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan). After James has left The Farm, however, Burke reveals to him that his washing out was a cover created to allow him to take a low level CIA job and help Burke ferret out a mole within the Agency who is trying to steal the top-secret computer virus program Ice-9... and the mole just might be Layla.