Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
For those that don't know who Jack Ryan is, here's a little bit about the character. He was created by author Tom Clancy (who died a few months ago), and had a series of nine books with him as the main character from 1984 to 2002. In that timespan, four films were made of certain books in the series, and three different actors played the character. The first film was 1990's The Hunt For Red October, which was also the first book. In that film, Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan who was trying to decide why an armed Soviet prototype submarine was heading towards America captained by a Russian Sean Connery. It was one of the biggest hits of the year and the critics loved it. It won an Academy Award and was nominated for two others. Two years later, the book Patriot Games was turned into a movie, this time with Harrison Ford in the lead role as Jack Ryan. The film was about an Irishman played by Sean Bean, who joins a more militant breakoff of the IRA after Jack kills his brother (the brother was trying to kill the the British Secretary of State to Northern Ireland) and finally intends to kill Jack and his family as well. The movie this time departed from the book quite a bit and Clancy disowned the film. However it got good reviews and was a financial success. That one was quickly followed by Clear and Present Danger with the same core cast, including Harrison Ford. Even the director was kept. Released in 1994, the film was again a success, was nominated for two Academy Awards, and even got better critical reviews and bigger box office than it's predecessor. The series would lay dormant for eight years until 2002 saw the release of Sum of All Fears, this time with Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan. Again, the story was changed a lot from the book, moving the film from the cold war to present day 2002, and changing the Arab villains to neo-fascists. (This was not due to 9/11, as the film had been completed by that time.) The movie was a financial success, but reviews were mixed. I myself felt Ben Affleck was not right for the part. He had not grown into the actor he is now. Also, it was presented as a prequel to the other films, but takes place after them in 2002.... Doesn't make much sense, eh?
The character of Jack Ryan has stayed the same throughout the series, even in this new film starring Chris Pine. Jack Ryan is a Marine (in this film, he joins due to 9/11) that gets injured when his helicopter is shot down, and his back is severely injured. He becomes addicted to painkillers while in rehabilitation of his injuries. He eventually gets better and is recruited to CIA. That's about where things stand about 20 minutes into this film.
Now this film wasn't adapted from a Tom Clancy novel like the others were. This is an original story, and a reboot of the franchise. It's been updated for modern audiences, since this isn't the cold war anymore. The story starts it's real story when Jack Ryan joins the CIA doing covert work looking at money transfers that could indicate terrorist activity is going to happen or is being funded. While there he notices that the markets aren't doing what they are supposed to do after a Russian vote failed at the United Nations. He looks deeper and discovers that Russian assets are being put away in different areas that could cause a financial catastrophe if something, say a terrorist attack, were to happen. So disguised as the stock broker still, he travels to Moscow to visit the company that is moving the money around and audit them. But he's too late... or is he?
This may seem like too much of a techo-geek film, but it's really not. Jack Ryan films were never really about action sequences, but there's enough here at the end to ease that hunger anyway. These films were always more espionage and hacking than explosions and chases. And for me, that's always better. Like the best Bond films, they know how to balance the two here. There's quite a bit of suspense, some human drama between Jack Ryan and his fiancé, and the cold war is even brought up again with the bad guy not forgiving the United States not supporting Russia during the invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The acting is pretty good here. Chris Pine is there to look handsome I suppose, and according to my sister, he does that very well. Kiera Knightly, who plays the fiancé is okay in her role as well, though it's nothing to write home about. The ever-emotionless Kevin Coster (whom I'm a fan of, despite that) actually does well in his role as the recruiter/mentor of Jack Ryan. Then there's the bad guy, played by a Russian accented Kenneth Branagh, who also directed the film. He's the top actor here, really sinking his teeth into the part. He even does well coming across as menacing and batshit insane, which surprised me. (It shouldn't as I've seen him play Frankenstein...) As for how he directs the film, well, you can hardly tell it's the Kenneth Branagh of old. It feels like any competent director could have directed this film, but as there aren't many of those left out there, this is a plus. There's very little shaky-cam to be had here. The action sequences are all very good. There's a motorcycle chase through New York city, and UNDER the city as well. There's a car chase/foot chase through Moscow... In fact, the film seems a bit like the Bourne films, but without the shaky-cam. That wasn't a put-off for me as I love those films, but I can see how it could be for Clancy fans. (I've never read the books.)
Still, it's a good addition to the series, a good reboot as well. It doesn't seem to be lighting up the box office lights, coming in at 4th place on it's opening weekend. Sadly, I don't think this franchise will be reignited. It was a good diversion, much better than the Bourne reboot that came out in 2012. My review may have seemed a bit negative, but I did actually really like this one. I just don't think it's one that will be remembered much by mass audiences.
I give this one 5 stars out of 7.
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