The Recruit (2003)

4 plot holes - chronological order

★★★★☆

Starring: Colin Farrell, Al Pacino, Gabriel Macht, Bridget Moynahan

Plot hole: There is absolutely no point in getting James involved with Layla for Burke. She could have given him the program, why get someone to sabotage his own plan?

Plot hole: If Zack is the NOC as Layla says, why is she reporting to him (passing him notes at Union Station) rather than someone in her chain of command? The NOC is supposed to be "out there alone" according to Burke, not mixed up in the command structure.

Joel Gordon

Plot hole: Wouldn't the scanner that she puts the coffee mug through be able to detect the USB connector in the bottom?

Joel Gordon

Plot hole: Why would the CIA ask Layla to test its security by stealing a real and harmful computer virus (the real Ice 9)? Unless Burke had somehow fooled the CIA into thinking what Layla was stealing wasn't real, but in that case she could have had Layla given him ice9 himself.

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Mistakes

Continuity mistake: When Layla is hooked up to the lie detector that tracks the movement of her eye, she is looking around the room and blinking repeatedly, but the eye on the screen (which is supposed to be hers) never moves or blinks, even though the camera is still on her.

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Quotes

James Clayton: All I know about the CIA is that they're a bunch of fat, old white guys who fell asleep when we needed them most.

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Trivia

Trivia: Roger Donaldson's mother Dorothy appears as a bystander in a street scene where Colin Farrell is running for a taxi.

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