Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

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From what I read in the credits, this is based on the characters created by Clancy, and it seems to have the right idea, and a very talented writer to set the basis for it. Chris Pine has done great work as Kirk in the "Star Trek' newest reincarnation, and I was a bit hesitant to accept him in this new role. Then I thought if Harrison Ford had managed to embody three or four of cinema's most interesting action characters, Pine had at least a good chance. Pine does very well in live interviews and is a decent actor, very charismatic. Ford is great on screen even though he's not the most exciting interviewee. The premise might work. Then I saw that Brannagh would helm the picture and costar in it, with a little help from another interesting actor, Costner. He started as the double-spy in "No Way Out" and did well. There's a dark side to him, so I figured he would do well as CIA operative. The film seemed to be moving well. "Shadow Recruit" has Pine working as financial CIA agent who discovers some rather covert manipulations of the market. He knows he has to travel to Moscow in order to set things straight. Somehow it was never explained to him that he might have to face bullets, race cars, and endanger his life. After a brief introduction which lets us know how he is recruited and gives us a bit of moral background, Pine is off and running all over Moscow, facing the film's archenemy, his fiancé, and some really bad traffic in Moscow. The film has good pacing, and the effects are pretty decent. Yet, there is a bit missing the target. It might be the underdeveloped villain, and the whole complicated situation which combines the financial maneuvering with the possibility of very lethal damage to a big metropolis. It works best when our hero tries to avoid elimination, or he's trying to stop someone from hurting him or his wife. It's a January film, so there might not have been much expected from it, and if it develops into its own franchise, it has a strong likelihood it will succeed. Pine has very good chemistry with his co-star. I hope they come back.

I had very low expectations going into this film. The trailer made it look like a very typical action film that would possibly have a plot twist in it to keep us interested. Typical it was. Plot twist? Nope. I was bored the entire time. The plot is straight forward. A super intelligent former marine, war hero, who recovered from a wound he acquired saving his fellow marines, becomes an analyst for the CIA. He stumbles upon a terrorist plot straight out of the Cold War, and then gets thrown into the mix, becomes a field agent overnight, and saves America. At no point are you trying to figure out what is going on? Who is the villain? Who is behind the plot? What is the plot? The answers to these questions are all handed to us on a silver platter. I was left with other questions, addressing the gaping plot holes. Why did the King of Qarth try killing Jack Ryan? How did the bad guys already know he was after them? Why didn't they send more people when he didn't return? How did the FBI already know about a sleeper agent? Why wasn't the plot uncovered earlier if Chris Pine, Kiera Knightly and Kevin Costner can piece it together in 5 minutes on a plane? Why didn't the Sleeper agent stab Chris Pine when he had the chance...twice? I am glad I didn't have to pay to see this. Don't waste your money. It isn't even worthy of a casual viewing because you are bored and don't want to think. Watch S.W.A.T. instead.

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.