Kevin Costner was courted to play Jack Ryan way back in The Hunt for Red October, the first film starring Tom Clancy's analyst. We all know how that story goes though, since they cast Alec Baldwin for the role instead because Costner was busy with Dances With Wolves. Ironically enough, Costner finally gets to be in a Jack Ryan movie, albeit not playing the title character himself.
Kenneth Branagh brings us the reboot of the franchise with a little bit into Jack's background, a little bit of action, a little bit of suspense, and nothing that is ultimately memorable or new to fans of Ryan's stories except for the more modern global economy and readjustments to geopolitics.
Jack (Chris Pine) is an economics student working on his PhD. in London when 9/11 happens. Eighteen months later, he's a marine and flying with two others over Afghanistan when his helicopter is shot down. Ryan sustains a back injury that leaves him recovering and in physical therapy for eight months. It's there that he meets Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley), a med student studying to be an eye doctor, but is helping Jack get through physical therapy in order to complete her credits. It's there where he also meets William Harper (Kevin Costner), a man who works for the CIA and has read Jack's dissertation and other writings about economics, geopolitics, and whatnot. He convinces Jack to go to work for the CIA as a spy compliance officer on Wall Street, but only after he finishes his PhD. Ten years later, Jack is where you expect him to be after his conversation with Harper. There, he uncovers some shady information about stocks and Russia and other financial and economic things that I can't begin to explain to you in any competency. Basically, a man named Victor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh) intends to crush the U.S. dollar after staging a terrorist attack to bring down the U.S. economy. To try and get more information, Harper sends Jack to Russia to meet with Cherevin, but things get complicated when they try to have Jack killed because they suspect he knows about their plot and when Cathy, now his fiancé, shows up in Moscow because she suspects Jack is having an affair.
A lot of people hold Jack Ryan to high esteem. The guy is extremely intelligent and accomplished, so it's easy to understand why. He's a former marine, a PhD., a CIA analyst, and later a professor. But, Jack Ryan the character (at least in the films) isn't an overly exciting person. Some will argue that this is Chris Pine's fault, but the same can be said for when Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck all played Ryan in the past. It's not the actors, but the character himself that falls a little on the stale side of things.
What is good about this film, however, is that it doesn't throw aside Jack's intelligence. Director Kenneth Branagh (he's pulling double duty) describes Jack as the "every man," which means he doesn't have James Bond's license to kill, nor Jason Bourne's very honed fighting skills. He's just a guy who tries to do good things and finds himself in not-so-good situations.
The film does have a good cast. Chris Pine fills in the Jack Ryan shoes pretty well. Although as an actor, he's much more entertaining to watch when he has more to do. And this role doesn't give him much in the way of great dialogue, but he can play the action hero really well. He does have great chemistry with Keira Knightley and they're endearing together.
Their relationship is one of the stronger aspects of the film and there should have been more of it because they are some of the best parts to watch. Their relationship is very equal and much more layered than in the previous films, which is why the personal attack later in the movie is more... well, personal. Knightley has a pretty good American accent, too. And while she falls briefly into the damsel-in-distress category, she's brave enough to want to help Jack out, and that says a lot about her character. Kevin Costner gives the tough love in this film and keeps Jack from falling off the proverbial thin line he's walking. He's the type of guy who sees a mission through to its end and doesn't just sit around at his desk giving advice. And Kenneth Branagh has seemingly mastered his Russian accent and plays the baddie like its second nature even when there isn't anything deeper to his character besides being semi-threatening. There's a hint of something else, but we never get any of what's behind it.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is much less boring than the previous Jack Ryan movies and much less Jason Bourne-esque than a lot of people assumed it would be, it's ultimately very mediocre. There isn't anything amazing about it or its characters. And while the story tries hard to make us all care that some Russian guy is attempting to bring down our economy, it lacks a more fluid execution and suspense build up.
It has more action and hyped suspense, and while they do well to portray Jack's nervousness and fear at being in a situation out of his depth, the entire film just feels a little underwhelming. If you enjoyed the previous movies though, then you'll probably like this one as well. It has its semi-entertaining moments, but it's nothing we haven't seen before and is really more of the same when it comes to the typical action/suspense films.
