Tom Clancy's most famous creation, Jack Ryan, has had quite a history in his series of novels, starting life as a marine, working for the CIA, even becoming U.S. President, only to step down and live the rest of his days as a millionaire. On the big screen, his movie series has been more stop and start, with Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, and Ben Affleck all portraying the CIA Agent. Affleck's Sum of all Fears was the last attempt to reboot the series, but sadly it didn't take. Now, Kenneth Branagh is at the helm of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, which sees Chris Pine step into Ryan's shoes, taking us all the way back to the character's origins.
Speeding through Ryan's early life as an economics student, enlistment into the marines (with some admittedly heavy handed 9/11 fueled motivation), and recruitment to the CIA, Shadow Recruit wastes no time in getting to the meat of the story, which sees Ryan going head to head with Russian banker Viktor Cherevin (Branagh), who plans to bring financial ruin to America. It all seems a bit too quick, huge swaths of information being left to the imagination, but once the script, from Adam Cozad and Divid Koepp, finds its feet, it delivers a tight and extremely tense story, making world economics strangely compelling. While it does have its eye on being a more action oriented take on the character, it still feels like a Jack Ryan movie, less flashy than most other spy movies with a foot firmly grounded in reality. The action sequences are few and far between, but under the taut direction of Branagh, they are breath taking at times. Known mostly for his Shakespeare adaptions, Branagh delivers on the promise of Thor, making for an extremely entertaining ride, adding in some stylistic flourishes that we could have seen more of.
The story zips along at a good pace, though there are some glaring plot holes that are quite noticeable, especially how open Ryan's fianceé Cathy (Kiera Knightley) is when she discovers his double life. In fact, the movie stalls slightly when Knightley is introduced. Her character feels shoehorned in, not really adding much to proceedings. I maintain she could have been removed from the movie, and nothing much would change. Thankfully the rest of the cast fare much better, Pine making for a good Ryan, extremely believable as the paper pusher turned action hero. He plays the role with a subtle intensity, and delivers one of the best scenes when he brings in some of the cockiness of Captain Kirk, his most famous role to date, to cause a scene in a swanky restaurant. Branagh plays Cheverin with genuine menace, leading to a truly memorable villain. As smart as he is ruthless, he's a remarkably creepy creation, with a hair trigger temper threatening to kick off at any moment, and the fact Branagh has no lips only helps matters (seriously, look at him!). Kevin Costner doesn't really break a sweat as Ryan's mentor Tom Harper, but he is great in the role, pushing Ryan when the going gets tough, and delivering one of the best lines in fantastic dead pan fashion.
Mixing in Tom Clancy's sensibilities with more audience friendly action fare, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a fantastic return to form for the character, and hopefully there is more adventures for Pine and co. on the horizon.
Speeding through Ryan's early life as an economics student, enlistment into the marines (with some admittedly heavy handed 9/11 fueled motivation), and recruitment to the CIA, Shadow Recruit wastes no time in getting to the meat of the story, which sees Ryan going head to head with Russian banker Viktor Cherevin (Branagh), who plans to bring financial ruin to America. It all seems a bit too quick, huge swaths of information being left to the imagination, but once the script, from Adam Cozad and Divid Koepp, finds its feet, it delivers a tight and extremely tense story, making world economics strangely compelling. While it does have its eye on being a more action oriented take on the character, it still feels like a Jack Ryan movie, less flashy than most other spy movies with a foot firmly grounded in reality. The action sequences are few and far between, but under the taut direction of Branagh, they are breath taking at times. Known mostly for his Shakespeare adaptions, Branagh delivers on the promise of Thor, making for an extremely entertaining ride, adding in some stylistic flourishes that we could have seen more of.
The story zips along at a good pace, though there are some glaring plot holes that are quite noticeable, especially how open Ryan's fianceé Cathy (Kiera Knightley) is when she discovers his double life. In fact, the movie stalls slightly when Knightley is introduced. Her character feels shoehorned in, not really adding much to proceedings. I maintain she could have been removed from the movie, and nothing much would change. Thankfully the rest of the cast fare much better, Pine making for a good Ryan, extremely believable as the paper pusher turned action hero. He plays the role with a subtle intensity, and delivers one of the best scenes when he brings in some of the cockiness of Captain Kirk, his most famous role to date, to cause a scene in a swanky restaurant. Branagh plays Cheverin with genuine menace, leading to a truly memorable villain. As smart as he is ruthless, he's a remarkably creepy creation, with a hair trigger temper threatening to kick off at any moment, and the fact Branagh has no lips only helps matters (seriously, look at him!). Kevin Costner doesn't really break a sweat as Ryan's mentor Tom Harper, but he is great in the role, pushing Ryan when the going gets tough, and delivering one of the best lines in fantastic dead pan fashion.
Mixing in Tom Clancy's sensibilities with more audience friendly action fare, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a fantastic return to form for the character, and hopefully there is more adventures for Pine and co. on the horizon.
