Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is recruited by shadowy William Harper (Kevin Costner) to work for the CIA, investigating global terrorist numbers fiddling. In order to do his job properly he will need to lie to everyone he knows, including the lovely med student Cathy (Keira Knightley) who helped him with his rehab when Ryan was an injured marine, and whom he has subsequently been romancing. Skipping ahead some time and Ryan and Cathy are now engaged, when Ryan uncovers a possible Russian-hatched plot to tank the US economy. Ryan is sent into the field, Russia specifically, to check out the prime suspect, Russian businessman Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh). Meanwhile, Cathy is starting to wonder just what it is her husband-to-be really does for a living.

 

I was never a fan of the two Harrison Ford ‘Jack Ryan’ films, though I liked “The Hunt for Red October” (with Alec Baldwin) and I think “The Sum of All Fears” (with Ben Affleck) is the best of the lot, an opinion likely shared by no one. This 2014 film from director/co-star Kenneth Branagh (“Dead Again”, “Hamlet”, “Thor”) isn’t the winner “The Sum of All Fears” was, but it’s definitely a more enjoyable film than “Patriot Games”, not to mention Branagh’s previous Hollywood directorial assignment “Thor”. Call it a minor recommendation, as at around 100 minutes, it’s too short to properly fit everything in. It results in director Branagh not being as effective as he should’ve been as the chief villain because there’s not enough time. That’s a shame because there’s nothing wrong with his performance, he deserves credit for not hamming it up.

 

The other problem with the film is that you’ll find yourself ticking off all the influences on the film (TV’s “Homeland” and “24”, the “Bourne” and Bond film franchises, etc.) throughout. The shaky camerawork by Haris Zambarloukos (Branagh’s “Sleuth” and “Thor”) and irritating music score by Patrick Doyle (“Henry V”, “Dead Again”, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) really do remind one of the “Bourne” films. Original it ain’t, and in fact at times it feels like the pilot for a Jack Ryan TV series, if possibly a bit better than that. The fact that the character of Jack Ryan has been pretty much rebooted really helps star Chris Pine. I don’t find him terribly likeable on screen 9 times out of 10, but at least I wasn’t comparing him to the other guys in this franchise. 10 minutes and you’ve accepted this as its own beast for the most part. Pine even shows some vulnerability not really tapped into previously here and I very much appreciated it. Pine’s (or Ryan’s) lack of ego and lack of assuredness this time out is really appealing here. This guy’s barely keeping from shitting his pants, as a novice would. I really liked seeing this character in his early stages working for the CIA. His reaction to his first kill is believably nervous and scared.

 

Nothing new story-wise of course, but pretty entertaining and interesting stuff. The relatively minor league financial investigating that Ryan does for much of the film, however, does seem awfully small fry. I get why it has to be this way and things eventually get bigger, but it’s not quite as thrilling as it could’ve been. The early chopper crash, however, is really well-done mostly in close-up and quite frightening. I admired the approach, though, in continuing the modern day setting for this stuff. Most people didn’t seem ready for “The Sum of All Fears” when it came out, and although this one flopped, I don’t think it had anything to do with any resistance to real-life geopolitics. As a fan of the aforementioned film, I’m glad they stuck with a modern setting, personally. Meanwhile, I always like seeing Keira Knightley on screen. She gets on women’s nerves because they’re petty and jealous. She’s not remotely an Anne Archer-type here, but given the reboot approach, that’s fine. She’s sweet, charismatic and just terrific to have around. Bloody incandescent, actually. It’s a shame that the film jumps ahead 10 years after the initial meeting between Pine and Knightley, but I understand why. Gotta keep the thing on the move. Still, something gets lost there, I think. The whole ‘husband keeping a secret life from his wife’ deal is as old as the hills, but it’s done well here.

 

Kevin Costner (who in his heyday could’ve easily played Ryan in one of the earlier films, indeed he was offered “The Hunt for Red October” but decided to win an Oscar instead) is an undeniable star, if Captain Grumpy Pants at times throughout his career. Essentially playing the elder statesman of the CIA here, he’s absolutely terrific. Heavy-set Nonso Anozie scores briefly as the film’s Bond henchman, a Ugandan assassin with an outwardly cheerful disposition. You’ll remember him. The rarely seen (these days) Mikhail Baryshnikov does rock-solid uncredited work too as a Russian villain. That was a nice surprise, I thought.

 

This one’s just OK, bordering on being more than that. It never quite establishes its own identity- it’s a little Bond, a little “Mission Impossible”, some Jason Bourne, a bit of Jack Bauer. Good performances help a great deal (especially Costner and Branagh himself), brevity does a disservice to some of the good work, though. And what’s with the useless cameos by David Paymer and David Hayman? A real shame there. Based on characters created by Tom Clancy, the screenplay is by Adam Cozad (a first-timer) and David Koepp (“Jurassic Park”, “Panic Room”, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”).

 

Rating: B-