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Product Name: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
UPC: 097363526445
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Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good action triller!
I must admit that I went into this movie with very low expectations. I liked the Jack Ryan movies in the past, but couldn't take Chris Pine seriously as Jack Ryan. Furthermore, I very seldom care for Kevin Costner other than in Dances With Wolves. The critics did not like this movie because it was supposedly a James Bond/ Jason Bourne ripoff. Unfortunately they neglected to realize that there are more James Bond and Jason Bourne sequels than you you count on four hands. Using them as a template was a perfectly good idea with new characters and a great story. Yes, it involved the Russians as bad guys, but with a great new twist. [SPOILER ALERT}, this time it involved a terrorist attack that would be used to exploit the drop in the stock market by selling the most affected securities short. Most people do not understand the way this works and so they can't appreciate how feasible it is to do it and how relevant it is to today's financial markets. Both Pine and Costner were very effective in their respective roles and KeIra Knightly was just delightful. Even Kenneth Branaugh was excellent as a Russian bad guy and as Director (which I didn't realize until later). The bu-ray version I bought looks absolutely great and is one of my better looking movies. I don't want to go too overboard with this because you may not like it as much as I did. The plot is complicated (which I really enjoyed) but if you don't get it, you may not like it. The good thing is that you will want to view it over again many times to pick up all of the details.
Part of the problem is that, having seen Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck play Jack Ryan in previous movies (and having read the books), it's difficult for a new actor to put his stamp on the character. Should he (Chris Pine) act like he imagines a young Harrison Ford might play Ryan? Or would that be like playing Han Solo as Jack Ryan?
Plus, to make it more relevant to today's audiences, the story has to be transplanted in time to the present day. The story is pretty good, and keeps some of the Ryan back story (Marine, injured in a helicopter crash, makes a pile of money on Wall Street, etc...), and puts a contemporary polish on it. So, overall, worth seeing on its own merits, but also if only to compare to previous Ryan stories.
