Movie Review - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit movie review

Jack Ryan was originally a product of Tom Clancy, and other actors have played the character in the past. In Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the character gets a reboot as an action hero, with Chris Pine in the lead role. Pine has been good in other action roles, such as in 2010's Unstoppable, and he's capable here as well; however, the script is a bit formulaic and the movie has other slight problems throughout.

Jack Ryan (Pine) joins the armed forces after 9/11, and later lands a job as an analyst on Wall Street. Before that, though, he's recruited by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) and joins the CIA - his job at the firm is his cover. Ryan soon finds out that some of the Russian accounts his firm holds are being hidden, and he goes to Russia to investigate. Before long, he finds out what's really going on - that the accounts are part of a larger plan, involving terrorists and the economy - and he must stop the Russian terrorists before they succeed.

Pine and Costner were fine in their roles. Keira Knightley plays Cathy, Jack Ryan's fiancee, whom he meets in physical therapy (she's his therapist) and later wooes. Knightley has an American accent here, and I think it's the first time I've heard one on her - it's awkward and a bit off-putting. Kenneth Branaugh is Cheverin, one of the Russians that Pine's character deals with, and Alec Utgoff plays his son, who he has been separated from for many years.

Yes, see this movie, but only if you're looking for a "popcorn" film. I saw it in IMAX which was enjoyable, except that we were sitting near the sound system so at times the background noises - helicopter sounds, etc. - were drowning out the dialogue. If the action parts of the movie weren't so entertaining, I'd probably be giving it a 3 out of 5 and a Maybe, but those parts managed to keep me interested the entire time, and they make up about 75% of the film. There's also an interesting part where one of the terrorists is currently living in Dearborn, Michigan, which I found to be funny because I live nearby; I rarely see metro Detroit cities referenced on film.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is in theaters today, January 17th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 105 minutes. 3.5 stars out of 5.

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