Jack Ryan

In this day and age, we have no shortage of shows like these. Stuff like "Reacher", "Shooter", "Taken", "Punisher" and "Terminal List" all roughly scratch the same itch for a grounded gun guy vs government goons TV series. It becomes increasingly difficult to stand out when the series is based on books written roughly 30 years ago. I mean Tom Clancy has been dead for 10 years now. That might explain why so many of his stories involve some spark that will make the Cold War escalate to World War III between America and Russia. Most of Clancy's material has been mined in other films and even video games that anything now seems derivative. Similar to Jane Austen with romantic comedies, so it is with Clancy and political thrillers.

Well then, the difference has to come from the character. What makes Jack Ryan different than Jack Bauer? What made him a charming protagonist was the fact that he didn't have, as Bryan Mills would say, "a particular set of skills." Ryan is an analyst, a desk jockey. He was the everyman thrown into difficult situations outside his control.

I feel that edge is where "Jack Ryan" misses the mark. This Jack Ryan, particularly by the third season, is just the same type of action tough guy as every other political thriller show. It's not bad, just every change they make to Jack Ryan makes him more generic. They are making him out to be more like John Karasinki's character from "16 Hours".

That being said, they do an excellent job with the action in this show. The music, cinematography and acting are all top-notch. The political intrigue and stories are well done. I just wish it would appeal more to the everyman angle that makes Jack Ryan so unique.

Like many other reviews I find season 1 to be very good, entertaining, engaging and hook you so that you just want to keep watching the next episode. Season 2 lost all that magic and I had a hard time completing it. I finished season 2 feeling that I just had to to see I'd wear other reviews said about season 2 were all true, and they were. I had my doubts with season 3 but I think it got back to its roots. The story is once again engaging and get you hooked from the beginning. If you like season 1 and disappointed by season 2, I strongly recommend you give season 3 a try and I think you will like it.

The six episodes of the fourth season offer a worthy conclusion to the series, even if the level of the first and third seasons is not reached. But I was particularly pleased that the Swiss cameraman and director Lukas ETTLIN (born in Basel in 1975) directed three episodes of the fourth season. I had already noticed him positively through a few episodes of the pirate series BLACK SAILS (ETTLIN was active as a director from season 2).

What was remarkable about JACK RYAN was the well-thought-out plots, which were always reminiscent of real scenarios (especially season 3). The guest stars Noomi RAPACE and Tom WLASCHIHA as BND agents in season 2 and of course the fantastic Nina HOSS as the Czech Prime Minister in season 3 were also great.

Small weak point: The fact that Abbie CORNISH was brought out of obscurity as Jack's love interest in season 4 after she had not been mentioned for two seasons seemed all too forced.

After BERLIN STATION and CONDOR, JACK RYAN was simply a very entertaining spy series that has now found its well-deserved end.

Clancy's range of books have stood the test of time.

Go back and reread Hunt for Red October and understand this is a first time published author... who was so ahead of the curve most publishers didn't want to publish him! Insane in hindsight. Just goes to show marketing people aren't the brightest kettle of fish.

Although this series doesn't quite perfectly get it, it's certainly a lot better than the car crash of Rings of Power - at least the writers of this have obviously read at least some of the books and understand the characters. So yes, it's a bit more kiss kiss bang bang than the books but that is the medium.

Krasinski is a bit more gymbod than I always imagine Ryan but you know Krasinski will make anything work - and Krasinski's personality like Alec Baldwins and Harrison Fords is a bit more accurate - no offence to others but it's a personality thing)

Why John Clarke is called Mike November here is anyone's guess, but Michael Kelly is perfect for the role, as much as Dafoe was years ago. (Yes, I like the Without Remorse film, but that isn't the John Clarke from the books and this isn't a skin tone thing it's a personality thing.

Casting throughout the entire series has been great tho, Pierce, Cornish, Gabriel, and all the series co-stars...

A fair few other US Showrunners should learn a fair bit from this: Respect the source and don't insert your crappy untalented ego - you are not a better writer than these Authors.

I bought the final season of Jack Ryan on DVD. It is quite good.

However the aspect ratio is wrong and nothing I could do with my aspect control on my TV or player could fix it. Even after binge watching every episode the aspect was still annoying.

Having watched every season before I could predict what was going to happen next, but that was OK. I am glad to see that my cast favorites survived and was satisfied that the evil ones paid a price. The scenery/locations were superb. Casting was well done. I recommend this as great viewing.

I will attempt to buy again on Blu-ray and hope that the aspect ratio have been corrected.