Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Where A Most Wanted Man was a little more subtle and dry of a spy thriller, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, amps up the intensity and makes a very different, yet very similar spy thriller.

I've done a lot of Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Movies, take a look here at that list.
The Hunt For Red October
Patriot Games
The Sum of All Fears

I've done these movies in the strangest order you could imagine. While this movie came out after The Sum of All Fears, its more of an origin story for the character of Jack Ryan and could potentially open the gates for more sequels based on the character. But is it good enough to warrant that?

Shadow Recruit is a total reboot of the character and does a pretty nice job at keeping the origins of the character but updating it and putting him in the modern world.

Jack Ryan (played by Chris Pine) is a doctorate candidate at Oxford when 9/11 happens and he decides to join the Marines. While in Afghanistan, he is in an accident and he breaks his back. While recovering, he is recruit by Tom Harper (played by Kevin Costner) to join the CIA as a financial analyst and investigate Wallstreet to make sure money isn't going to terrorism.

Ten years later, Ryan is engaged to his nurse from the Vets hospital (played by Keira Knightley) and he is noticing a mysterious link between his company and a Russian company. Furthermore, there is tensions between the United States and Russia on the value of the dollar and a lot of financial mumbo jumbo that surprisingly wasn't as boring as I thought it was going to be.

When you think of spy espionage thrillers, you don't think of economic and financial surveillance and yet somehow this movie manages to make that the most fast paced and interesting issue facing the CIA today.

And that's another thing.

This movie has a strange way of kind of overlooking the public opinion of the CIA in the modern day and making it the cool shit it used to be back in the 80s and 90s when all the other Jack Ryan movies were made. Its a strange dynamic because the CIA has such a different look and feel in movies like Patriot Games, this film, it feels like this secret organization that nobody knows about again. Its this strange dynamic that is hard to explain but things feel updated... and yet at the same time feel very old and something that Tom Clancy would write. Again, they really side step the whole, the CIA is not exactly looked that highly on today... especially in light of recent torture reports. I know the movie was made before this report came out, but the way they address is so quick and so rushed that its not really that great of an explanation. Ryan basically says, you guys aren't that popular, with all the word on torture and stuff, why would I want to join you, and Costner just says, that's not my division... and that's the end of the discussion. That... in a weird way makes everything all better and we move on.

But back to the plot. The company that Ryan is looking into in Russia is run by a cold ruthless Russian named Viktor Cherevin (played by Kenneth Branagh). The overall plot is a typical terrorist espionage thriller plot, stop the terrorists from an attack, espionage ensues. What's different about this film is the economic and financial part about it. Strange thing is, there is a lot of action to this film... even though its mainly about corporate and financial espionage... I don't know its kind of hard to explain without giving too much away.

The film is a weird enigma in the fact that it is suppose to be a modern adaptation of the Tom Clancy books but at the same time, Tom Clancy wrote those books near the end of the Cold War. Russia was our biggest enemy and in a lot of media (not just Clancy's) Russia is painted as the most evil thing on the planet.

The strange thing about this film is that it actually paints Russians the same way they used to be painted in films from the 90s. I just think of Airforce One when I think of the Russians in this film. Its such a strange dynamic because the movie feels modern... but at the same time feels very old and uses a lot of tropes and stereotypes from the old espionage thrillers but puts a Jason Bourne feel to them.

On that note, let's talk about the action.

As I've said before, this movie has a lot of action for a film about economic terrorism. And that's a strength about this film. It keeps me interested, the movie is very fast paced, but at the same time the film is well thought out. The set up is good and the movie throughout is executed pretty well overall. The pacing is just something worth mentioning because this movie was zig zagging here and there and making things incredibly interesting, especially for a topic that, in theory, could be pretty dry.

Let's talk about characters.

Honestly, the reason I took so long to see this movie was because I wasn't that interested in Chris Pine as Jack Ryan. I don't have a huge connection to the character of Jack Ryan, but I don't really see Chris Pine as Jack Ryan.

Let's talk about Chris Pine in general.

I think the guy, for the most part, has had a pretty successful and likable career. He's James Kirk, but at the same time he's been in some chick flix. Which isn't a bad thing, but you know from Matthew McConaughey that that can kind of give you a bad rap and not really make you credible.

Overall, I think Chris Pine can act, I just don't think I like him that much. That sounds kind of mean and I can't discredit the guy just because I don't like him, but I just have an interesting response whenever I hear Chris Pine is staring in a film.

For the most part, Pine does a pretty good job in this film. But the thing about Jack Ryan is that he's painted as this boy scout all American hero. And while that's Jack Ryan's character, Jack Ryan is a different kind of protagonist just because he's not Chris Pine. Jack Ryan, to my understanding, is an average guy who displays bravery in extreme circumstances. He's patriotic but not to the level they're trying to sell Pine as. Pine is the guy you put on a poster for the National Guard and I just don't see that as Jack Ryan. Maybe that's exactly how Tom Clancy intended but I look at Harrison Ford, and Alec Baldwin, two interpretations of an analyst, not a super spy, an analyst in the CIA and I like their representations better because they were your run of the mill guys. Sure they acted bravely in the face of an international threat, they had their action moments, but you never felt like they could be Jason Bourne.

I feel like they're trying to make Jack Ryan the new Jason Bourne. Its been done before, its going to be done again, it cannot be done.

That being said, there are some good parts about his performance.

His relationship with Kathy his fiance (played by Keira Knightly) is actually pretty good. I think the two have an interesting chemistry that flushed out a little bit more could work in future films. Its not ground breaking and its a little bit stereotypical and heartless at times, but I liked it for the most part.

Keira Knightly in the film is... alright. She's not great. I'm out on her accent, I feel like there's a British Accent bursting at the seams trying to get out in this film but for the most part she's alright. Not great, alright.

I really liked Kevin Costner. I think some people think he's just the same old Kevin Costner with bland acting, but I like the guy dammit. I think there's an attempt to do with Kevin Costner and Chris Pine what they did with Bruce Greenwood and Chris Pine in Star Trek in creating him as a sort of father figure and I guess its alright. Its not great, its just not horrible.

I think probably the best part of the film was Kenneth Branagh.

Yeah he's not actually Russian. Yeah, his character is your stereotypical intimidating Russian who is bent on American destruction. But damn, Branagh has fun with this role.

I enjoyed it despite it being unoriginal and honestly a little unmemorable. He created a good villain for the film and was pretty run of the mill as far as Tom Clancy villains go. They're always pretty typical and not incredibly interesting but at the same time you kind of like them in a weird way. I would never say Sean Bean in Patriot Games was an incredibly memorable bad guy, but that doesn't mean he didn't do a good job. The same goes for Branagh in this case. He's fun, he's a villain you like to hate, its a good time.

The more I think about this movie, the more I kind of poke holes in it. The more I think about it, the more I kind of see it as average. The movie is so high paced and while you're watching it, a lot of fun. But at the end of the day, you're probably not going to have that much of an impact. I think its fun and it has a lot of potential to open up for a franchise, but lets not push it. We've got enough spy franchises, especially with Matt Damon coming back as Bourne, you know people start reaching the bottom of the barrel when they go for Jack Ryan. Its unfortunate, but true.

Overall the film is mediocre. Safe, and mediocre. Fun... but mediocre. I think if you watch the film you'll probably enjoy it, but its not going to leave a mark.

But those are my thoughts on Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. What do you think? Do you think they should keep making these Jack Ryan films? What do you think of Chris Pine? Comment and Discuss Below!

I'll leave you with this. Here's the clip that was suppose to be in the film with Ellen Degeneres. Enjoy!