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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit poster

CAST
CHRIS PINE
PETER ANDERSSON
NONZO ANOZIE
KENNETH BRANAGH
KEVIN COSTNER
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
LENN KUDRJAWIZKI
ALEC UTGOFF
ELENA VELIKANOVA

BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY
TOM CLANCY

SCREENPLAY BY
ADAM COZAD
DAVID KOEPP

PRODUCED BY
DAVID BARRON
LORENZO DI BONAVENTURA
MACE NEUFELD
MARK VAHRADIAN

DIRECTED BY
KENNETH BRANAGH

GENRE
ACTION
THRILLER

RATED
AUS:M
UK: 12A
USA: PG-13

RUNNING TIME
105 MIN

 

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT (2014)

Although it borrows heavily from superior espionage movies, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is never the less a stylish and exciting action thriller that affirms Chris Pine as a leading man worth banking your franchise on.

This isn’t the first time that Jack Ryan – the reluctant CIA hero created by spy novelist Tom Clancy – was rebooted for the movies. Twelve years ago Ben Affleck ran with the role in the under-appreciated Sum of All Fears, yet considering this was Affleck during his popularity slump sequels were not in high demand.

With Chris Pine cast in the title role, perhaps now the Jack Ryan franchise can resolve its biggest issue: consistency. Pine is the fourth actor to play Ryan in five films (Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Affleck being the others). These days especially studios know how important it is to have the same stars return in a consistent product amongst an overcrowded market.

Paramount Pictures have placed a lot of trust in Pine, with the perfectly chiselled actor now fronting two of their franchises (Star Trek being the other). It’s a trust that has paid off. As Ryan, Pine brings the qualities needed: charm, intelligence, physicality and the ability to play over his head.

The last one is especially important, with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit re-introducing this American hero as a man out of his element. Spurred on by the 9/11 attacks on New Your City, the patriotic Ryan joins the Marines where he is recruited by CIA agent William Harper (Kevin Costner, who himself would have made a great Ryan during his commercial peek). Costner’s casting as the no-nonsense CIA veteran is an inspired one, bringing an instant gravitas and providing a great chemistry with Pine.

The same can’t be said about Keira Knightley, who plays Ryan’s love interest Dr. Cathy Muller. While the role has consistently been underwritten throughout the series, the usually charming Knightley struggles to add much to the part besides a shocking American accent. Also with the chemistry between Knightley and Pine non-existent, moments of romance and domestic drama stall an otherwise energetic film.

CIA analyst Ryan’s first on-field assignment is to investigate his own hunch that Russian multi-millionaire Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh, who also directs) is at the centre of a plot to bring down America in a two pronged attack where currency is just as lethal as explosives. It’s here where …Shadow Recruit begins to resemble other superior espionage movies before it: A bathroom fight scene evokes Casino Royale; the Russian setting reminds of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol; hell, even large chunks of this “original concept” by Adam Cozard and David Koepp are lifted from Sum of All Fears.

Yet despite the familiarities, Branagh delivers a slick, tense and entertaining action movie. While the portrayal of his Russian villain is all menacing, rigid, KGB masculinity complete with lines such as “You think this game, Jack?” (why must the “is” be absent whenever actors play Russian villains?), Branagh the director’s handling of several race-against-time action sequences is brilliantly presented, with editor Martin Walsh putting on a dazzling display of heart pounding sequencing.

However Branagh and Walsh drop the ball on those dizzying fight scenes, with Branagh’s decision to do a Greengrass (as in Paul, as in overuse of shaky cam) much too chaotic and out of place compared to the controlled sheen of the rest of the film.

Five films in and the Jack Ryan film series has yet to put up a bad movie. A lot of it has to do with Tom Clancy’s writing, but even more with how Paramount continuously choose the right people to bring Clancy’s stories to life, as they have done here with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Now it’s time to strike when the iron is hot. Franchises after all are the big draw when it comes to getting those blockbuster dollars, and with a rising star in Pine now securing his position as a solid leading man and plenty of Clancy novels to adapt, it’s time for Jack Ryan to make his mark against an increasingly overcrowded competition.

***1/2

 

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