"The Recruit" questions. (spoilers)

[fezident]

Warning...my question has spoilers!

Overall this was a really good thriller/mystery movie, but I have some serious questions about some basic plot points.

1) Why would Walter (Pacino) even bother hiring Leyla (Moynahan)? If all he wanted was the ICE-9 virus...why not just give James (Farrell) her job inside the CIA?! Why would he go through all the trouble and confusion of having Leyla bring it home in chunks and THEN have James obtain it and decode it? Couldn't James just bring it home and hand it to Walter directly (once he had the whole program)? Seems a little elaborate, no?

Did I overlook something REALLY obvious? If you've seen the flick...please enlighten me.

Fez 4 Prez!!

[furie]

first, it had to be taken out in bits because the chip it was stored on was too small to hold the whole program. Now, the reason why Leyla was taked with obtaining ice-9 rather than James is because Burke needed someone to take the fall. he had to make it look like james was a disgruntled employee who stole the program and attempted to kill burke, the man who got him out of the farm. this way after he killed james, no one would question it or really care. But if james as an agent, the CIA would take a look at what he was doing to see why someone would want to kill him. the direct approach would bring to much attention, where as with the indirect, james is a dead nobody.

I had two problems with this movie. First, it was too easy to figure out the ending. I saw that coming a mile away.


Second, Burke said he was a GS-15 making $75K a year. the base pay for a first year 15 is $85k that without the 12% locality pay plus the 25%(above the 12%) LAEP. Since this guy was nearing retirment, he'd be closer to the top end $110K. (that's again without the 12% then 25% increases) I want realism. Do some research before you make a movie!

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<font size=3><b><font color=green>Furie</b></font>
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This message was edited by furie on 2-2-03 @ 9:20 PM

[NewYorkDragons80]

Second, Burke said he was a GS-15 making $75K a year. the base pay for a first year 15 is $85k that without the 12% locality pay plus the 25%(above the 12%) LAEP. Since this guy was nearing retirment, he'd be closer to the top end $110K. (that's again without the 12% then 25% increases) I want realism. Do some research before you make a movie!
That and saying CIA agents don't rank among the top of the list of chick magnets. I think CIA agents definitely get their share of pussy, not that that would be my reason for joining.

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[furie]

yeah i know. they made it look like only data entry fucks were getting all the tail.

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<font size=3><b><font color=green>Furie</b></font>
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[fezident]

Thnx F

Fez 4 Prez!!

[fezident]

Thnx Furie.
I kinda thought it had something to do with Burke creating a smokescreen to take the attention away from him BUT...
it just seemed like he was making things MORE risky for himself. If Leyla got caught taking the stick out of the building (with the ICE-9 virus on it), she would eventually cave in and say that she was on a security OP that was sanctioned by Walter, no? How would Walter explain that when/if he was approached? Wouldn't it have made more sense for Walter to give James a job in "Science and Tech" (or whatever that department was called) and have him take the virus out all by himself? I just think that hiring a girl that he KNEW James was attracted to would only make things complicated later? It almost seemed like Walter was sabotaging his own plan.

It sounds like you got all the little details on the first pass. I, obviously, need to see it again and look for all the hidden plot related stuff.

Fez 4 Prez!!

[furie]

but there's no more risk involved if leyla takes out the program as if james took it out. That right there is the inherent risk in the plan. but burke had to accept that risk in the minimum.

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Thanks dcpete!

This message was edited by furie on 2-3-03 @ 10:30 AM

[stickyfingers]

If Leyla got caught taking the stick out of the building (with the ICE-9 virus on it), she would eventually cave in and say that she was on a security OP that was sanctioned by Walter, no?


Leyla didn't know what exactly she was taking out but if she was caught Burke would say that she was doing that on her own(that she knew exactly what she was doing)....that he had nothing to do with it because the only contact he made with them was probably one on one....therefore his word versus hers and she gets the blame plus he would have backup from James saying that they were trying to stop her

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