Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

After the terrible events of 9/11 "Jack Ryan" (Chris Pine) quits college and joins the Marine Corps. He is then sent to Afghanistan and suffers a severe injury requiring hospitalization and therapy at Walter Reed. As he is about to be released he is offered a a position in the CIA by a man named "Thomas Harper" (Kevin Costner) to essentially work as an undercover financial analyst in which he specializes in finding shell organizations that pump money to terrorists organizations. In the course of his duties he finds a lead which takes him all the way to Moscow and the discovery of a terrifying plot. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that I thought this was a pretty good movie overall. I especially liked the complex plot but in all fairness I must admit it got a little bit over-the-top in the end. In any case I rate it as above average.

Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is moved by 9/11 to go from the London School of Economics to fighting in Afghanistan. His helicopter is shot down and he goes through intense rehab with med student Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley). Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) recruits him to work for the CIA. Jack gets a Wall Street job to find hidden terrorist financing covertly. Ten years later, he's at Harrman Brothers and living with girlfriend Cathy. He finds irregularities with the accounts of Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh). He seems to be propping up the US dollar. Jack is sent over to Russia to meet Cherevin but the analyst is thrown into the deep end.

I like Chris Pine's version of Jack Ryan. He is indeed a fish out of water. Keira Knightley has good chemistry with him. Kevin Costner is a bit stiff although he has the commanding presence. Branagh is passable as an evil Russian. In general, this is a good introduction to the character. However financial analysis is always going to be a hard sell and I don't buy the premise in this movie. It's the best that could be done with the material. It has a small bit of action. It probably suffers from being smaller than the other action thriller genre. Nevertheless, this is a good 90s thriller.

In 2002 the underwhelming The Sum of All Fears - with Ben Affleck in the lead role - put the Ryan franchise in the morgue. 12 years on and the famous CIA analyst is back on the big screen with a brand new story and a fresh face. Perhaps they should've waited another dozen years, as this reboot is utterly forgettable and offers nothing in the way of originality or inventiveness. The action has no pulse, the plot is straight out of 1980 and there's no thriller element to keep you guessing as the "Trust No One" tagline on the poster would suggest; which is all a shock when you consider Kenneth Branagh was at the helm and his last effort Thor, was such a gleefully entertaining motion picture. It also doesn't help that the latest incarnation of Jack Ryan, as portrayed by Chris Pine, has about as much charisma as a tree. Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner and Branagh are serviceable as love interest, mentor and villain respectively, however there's little any of them can do to boost the excitement levels. It's not a bad movie per se, just a run- of-the-mill affair you'll struggle to remember after the end credits.

Maybe this should've been released closer to Jack Reacher. Don't get mad, I'm not comparing those too, but it might have helped this with its Box office a bit. It wouldn't have helped story wise though. Or movie wise if you will. And while this is checking many boxes, it never really achieves anything special. Keira Knightley looks good and you know where this is going with her. Even added "dialog" and some story concerning her does not really add much depth.

Kevin Branagh has played in much richer roles, though he seems to relish the fact he can be bad in this one. And he has an accent (not British that is). Solid job as does Kevin Costner who also seems to bring some gravitas to it all. The "origin" story sounded nice on paper and has some charm, that's why this is not a total misfire (no pun intended), but it never gets really good to a point where you're like: I had to watch that

It's ironic that "Jack Ryan" is part of the title for this one because this is the furthest from the character that any of the films have been. Beyond a some what similar back-story, the doctor soon to be wife, and that he works for the CIA, Ryan is not Ryan. They turn him more into a spy/field agent than the brainy analyst that he's meant to be. As a result, there is nothing in this movie that makes it stand out from the rest of it's genre. It's just another spy movie with an over the top villain that's plotting world domination. It's predictable and generic. They sacrificed what made the Jack Ryan character unique.

I'm not saying that the movie didn't work as some Bond/Bourne/Mission Impossible wannabe with bits and pieces slapped together from every spy thriller ever made. It captured successful elements from those films pretty well. It's just a shame that they relied on recycling tired and over used narrative when there is still a bunch of great Ryan books that they have yet to adapt. There should be no reason to slap together this films story when a much more talented writer like Clancy still has more stories to draw from. I agree with Peter Travers comment "It's a product constructed out of spare parts and assembled with computerized precision."

Despite following a predictable formula very closely instead of the source material, the movie still works as entertainment. Chris Pine is great, despite the writers failing him, and he really carries the movie. He could be a great Jack Ryan if they actually wrote the character correctly. Branagh delivers a pretty good villain, even though he's more suited for a Bond film. There are a couple of scenes that deliver good suspense. It's just not a Jack Ryan movie. It seems that they only used Jack Ryan for the brand name rather than faithfully trying to tell a story about him.