The Recruit

The Recruit (2003)

4 plot holes - chronological order

(3 votes)

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: 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: 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.

Factual error: 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 knowledgeable should know that information can be copied through the USB port and they would have been secured accordingly.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: 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.

Not only is the original "Corrected entry" valid, it's understated. Burke actually said "Langley's computers don't have disk drives" - not just no floppy drive. In a high-security environment, such a system would be configured so that no USB port could communicate with an external drive; even more likely, the workstations would be dumb terminals - just keyboard, mouse, and monitor; and that's exactly what they appear to be in Layla's office area. So, showing a USB port built into Layla's keyboard and communicating with a USB drive belies a major part of Burke's story, and if Layla were able to do that, the system would immediately "see" it. It's the ersatz "Correction" that's mistaken, since it describes only ordinary commercial computer systems.

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Trivia: Lately, Hollywood is pairing young actors with older, character-actors the younger ones are repeatedly compared with (because of their looks or their acting styles): check this movie (Farrell-Pacino), Spy Games (Pitt-Redford), The Patriot (Ledger-Gibson) and The Score (Norton-DeNiro, Norton-Brando).

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