Written by James M. Tate / 1/17/2014 / 1 Comment / 2014 , action , chris pine , espionage , franchise , keira knightley , kenneth branagh , kevin costner
CHRIS PINE IS JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT
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| year: 2014 rating: **1/2 |
And now he’s a reborn Jack Ryan, author Tom Clancy's resilient CIA operative played by Alec Baldwin in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and taken over by Harrison Ford in PATRIOT GAMES and A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (and the Ben Affleck attempt).
Like Captain Kirk, this Jack Ryan exists on another plain altogether and, having become more of a timeless James Bond, he’s now part of the 911 generation... And that’s where things start, right on the fateful morning of September 11th, 2001 and Jack, attending college in England, winds up joining the Marines, becomes an injured war hero and is rehabilitated by his doctor, who just happens to be a single and gorgeous Keira Knightley as Cathy Muller: At this point the film skips past three years like nothing at all. What’s important is Jack’s first assignment takes place in Russia, a once Communist country now (supposedly) bathed in opulent capitalism. His mission is to thwart a plot to... well... let's be carefully cryptic because SHADOW RECRUIT attempts to engage like a page-turning novel wherein various clues and twists keep the story moving… There is an intense set-up to how Ryan goes from desk jockey to intrepid agent, and yet the best parts don’t deal with sporadic pulse-thumping action sequences.
When the chief antagonist is introduced, played by the director himself, Kenneth Branagh, there’s a potentially intriguing James Bond vs cerebral villain aspect… Too bad the results are a predictable kidnapping and an 11th hour terror threat back in America.
In the title role, Chris Pine does a decent enough job: sophisticated one minute and getting his hands dirty the next… Meanwhile the cliché romance between Jack and Cathy pales to the slowburn interaction with Kevin Costner’s CIA mentor Thomas Harper. Both make a pretty good team. The main problem are the computers, so quick to find imperative clues there’s little purpose left for Ryan.
While not a perfect espionage thriller, SHADOW is entertaining but ultimately feels like the first half of an introduction stretched into a feature length film… Let’s hope the next venture (if there is one) goes beneath the modern advancement to see what this new recruit is really made of: Like the Bond franchise shed most of the signature gadgets, Jack needs far less technology to really shine.
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I really liked this movie and was really disappointed in it at he same time. It had all the proper ingredients: Good sometimes great director Kenneth Branagh, a good young actor in Chris Pine as the *new* Jack Ryan - as a fan of the Jack Ryan novels I thought it was interesting having him in Afghanistan and that's how he got his back injury, Keira Knightley who about 10 years ago seemed to be the IT Hollywood-British actress but seems to have been able to keep her sanity and not been overexposed in recent years - always loved her - still do, and then crusty and awesome Kevin Costner. And you have Branagh acting as the villian.
ReplyDeleteInstead of a super-awesome movie, it seemed to have all been tossed into a blender and then poured out into a pre-planned mold. It was alright. I really liked it, but damnit it not only could have but should have been A LOT BETTER! Such wasted potential. That's why I was so disappointed in it. That being said I'd like to see Christ Pine be Jack Ryan again and maybe the second time make it be awesome!