When Burke tells them about the NOC, Zack is sitting in the front row (he has a red sweater on) on Burke's right. In later shots he is shown sitting on Burke's left. [Actually if you look carefully, he is sitting almost directly in front of Burke. When they show Burke from his left, it appears that Zack is on Burke's right. Then when the angle switches, he looks like he has moved. He hasn't.]
Great sites
Quotes
Walter Burke: All right, your objective: Reach the parking lot with an asset who intends to have sex with you.
James Clayton: You want us to pick up a girl?
Walter Burke: Five, actually. One each.
Mistakes
When the recruits are pulled out of bed at 06h00 in the morning for a run, the running instructor walks past Colin Farrell and Bridget Moynahan asking if everyone is ready. When we see a long shot of the instructor, his mouth opens but no sound comes out. We only hear his words "Let's go!" when the camera is on Colin, who is making gestures towards his mouth. See more...
Trivia
Roger Donaldson's mother Dorothy appears as a bystander in a street scene where Colin Farrell is running for a taxi. See more...
The Recruit (2003) - 19 corrections
Directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell (add more)
Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.
When Burke tells them about the NOC, Zack is sitting in the front row (he has a red sweater on) on Burke's right. In later shots he is shown sitting on Burke's left. [Actually if you look carefully, he is sitting almost directly in front of Burke. When they show Burke from his left, it appears that Zack is on Burke's right. Then when the angle switches, he looks like he has moved. He hasn't.]
In the movie Burke states that none of the computers has a floppy disk drive so that no information can be copied and smuggled out, but Leila uses a USB device. With all their technology and computer scientists, the CIA, or anyone who is semi-computer knowledgable should know that information can be copied through the USB port. [A good number of mice and keyboards connect to the computers through the USB ports. If they took out all but two ports, and left those for the mouse and keyboard, it could be possible. If Leila pulled out the keyboard plug she could put in the USB device and copy the files. Heck, she could have even opened the computer up herself and installed a hidden USB drive (smuggling in the tools with her coffee mug of course). She would just have to be sneaky about it, and that's nothing unusual for these characters.]
When Layla is checking her computer after Clayton uses it you can hear her punch the buttons four or five times, yet a whole string of commands is being typed. [The lines coming on the screen are from her bringing up an event log to see exactly what James did on the computer. She only needed to hit a few keys to begin the 'playback'.]
After Clayton gives Burke's name the door to the class opens. Clayton uses the other door to stand, but you can see the door moves when he uses it to prop himself up as if it was never locked (either that or the interrogators are really stupid for leaving the door unlocked). [Or the small cell door unlocks automatically when the big door opens, since there is no point in keeping it locked then.]
Why would the CIA be interested enough in Clayton to have Layla mark him in the first place? According to Burke CTs that wash out of the farm are hired to other positions in the CIA anyway. If it's surprising to find Clayton there, they should have enough common sense to find out who hired him (Burke) so they shouldn't be surprised later to find out that Burke was the traitor. [She doesn't mark him to begin with. Her mission is to attempt to smuggle out ICE-9 from Langley, to check for security breaches. It is not until Clayton starts asking questions and snooping around in her computers that she reports him as a threat. And the only reason she is surprised to see Clayton at Langley is because she herself is new, and does not know of the routine hiring of washed out recruits.]
In the scene where Clayton is following Layla in the taxi (after their night together) they are supposed to be coming from Georgetown and going to Union Station. In one shot out the window they are headed from Washington Circle towards Georgetown - not away from it. You would not get to Union Station by going that way. [Layla is going to a covert meeting. It makes sense she would go in a roundabout way.]
When Al is talking about being from Florida, he says the name of a town where he grew up. He pronounces it "OAK-LA" when it's pronounced "O-KAL-LA". The correct spelling is OCALA. [But we also know that Burke is a liar about most things; and during the lie detector test he also admits that Burke is not his real name. If he has a false identity, why not also have a false background story to go with it?]
When Farrell is being held in the metal cell by the supposed bad guys we see him throwing the food about and banging on the door with his hands untied. In the following shot when he is removed from the cell his hands are now tied tightly. [This has already been corrected. Some time (possibly days) passes between these scenes. There is no telling what the "captors" did to Clayton in this time; one of them could have come back and bound his hands to prepare him for the shower.]
In the scene where Colin Farrell is hitting the punching bag in the barn, just after Al Pacino says "it's in your blood," you can hear someone yell "Cut" right before the scene switches. [The voice you hear, yelling "Cut" isn't "Cut" at all. It's Colin Farrell grunting as he's slamming his shoulder into the punching bag.]
At the very end, Burke is exposed as a traitor and shot to death after he raises his gun. When the shooting team surrounds the body, one of the members is carrying a Heckler & Koch G36 with no magazine in it. [If you look carefully you can see that he has a low capacity magazine commonly used by law enforcement.]
In no way could Burke have covered up, even if Clayton was dead, that he was the one who ordered Layla to smuggle out the data. [His goal is to frame Clayton. So he is having Clayton take the program from Layla. It would look like Clayton stole it from Layla and sold it on his own. No one would know that Clayton gave the program to Burke. Burke's mission with Layla is legit, it would just look like it got foiled by a double agent (Clayton).]
If Burke's goal in the movie is to obtain the secret computer program, and sell it for 3 million...WHY does he need Clayton again? Why would he need to involve him unnecessarily? He could merely have Layla sneak out the data as an "assignment" like she thought and then he'd be done. [His goal is to frame Clayton. That's why Layla says that Clayton is the double agent. He plans to have Clayton get the program from Layla and bring it to him. No one but Clayton and Burke would know that Clayton brought it to Burke and didn't sell it himself.]
Just an overlooked point: In the seen where Al Pacino orders a martini from Colin Farrell at the bar, all Pacino asks for is a martini, and Farrell makes it. Any bartender worth anything knows that martinis come in two distinct varieties: Vodka or Gin. You could also note that he didn't request shaken/stirred or a garnish (olives/twist), but no matter what, the least that should be asked is Vodka or Gin, and a good bartender should know that. And the CIA looks for recruits with an attention to details? [Actually, when someone orders a martini it is made shaken with gin and an olive. If you want it made with vodka you have to order a "vodka martini."]
When Farrell's character is taking a taxi to the hotel after being washed out, the taxi is seen pulling up to the hotel entrance with its roof light lit. As the cab is still occupied/hired, the roof light (designed to indicate availability-for-hire) should not be on. [Wouldn't the cab driver want to turn on his light as he pulls up to the hotel to show that he is dropping someone off and will be available for someone at the hotel who might need a cab?]
In the scene when James is in the tank, first scene his hands are tied together. Then when he gets his "food" rations, he throws it, then bangs on the walls, obviously his hands aren't tied. Next shot when they take him out for a cold shower, his hands are tied again. [He's held captive fore several days, and we only see glimpses of that time. The feeding and shower scene cold be days apart, and it's not inconceivable that his hands were untied during some of the time that he was a captive.]
When Clayton enters the pin code to give him access to the area in which Layla's office is, we see a star appear every time Clayton presses a button, and also hear a beep. In the next shot (a closeup of the LCD screen) we see 4 stars. However, there were 5 beeps. [the fifth beep is not for a code number being pressed it is merely to indicate the conformation of the code. It happens throughout the film.]
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