Clayton is perceived as a non-conformer, who is not content with the standard jobs available to an average American. It becomes clear very quickly that his main drive is his quest to find out about his father.

While it is vague in the beginning of the movie why he is searching for his father or what his father was doing when he was lost, the movie continues on hinting, with the only fact being the paper that says he was working for Shell Oil Company.

Most would have let it go at that, but instead James becomes obsessed with his search, which leads him to the attention of Burke. Burke describes himself as “a scary judge of talent” and tells Clayton that the CIA is in his blood which drives James over the edge and right into Burke’s manipulative hands.

Once inside the CIA training facility Clayton meets up with a fellow CIA recruit Layla played by Bridget Moynahan. Clayton falls quietly in love with Layla, but in the “Farm” everything is watched and this sets the tone for the rest of the movie as Burke constantly sets them together to square off at one another.

Clayton is supposedly tossed out of the “Farm” due to breaking under a mock KGB interrogation where he was lead to believe they had tortured or killed Layla. Clayton breaks down and his life literally falls apart.

After a few days, Burke comes back and tells him he is not out and in fact he is the prime example of a non-official cover agent. As a NOC he will become unknown and untraceable, and his existence will always be denied.

With this new position, he is quickly set against Layla, who is told that Clayton is supposedly stealing an apocalyptic computer virus. This leads up to be the best part of the movie so I will not give the ending away.

The ending is very apparent by this point in the movie, and it’s just a matter of time until it happens. There are some major flaws in the execution of this climax, but overall it was entertaining.