'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' - Movie Review

If there's one thing a spy-thriller doesn't want to be, it's lukewarm. A lukewarm protagonist won't excite and a lukewarm plot won't enthral. And unlike Napoleon, an expert in creating propaganda to capture hearts and minds, who is referenced numerous times in this latest Jack Ryan instalment, director Kenneth Branagh has failed to steer Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit past the lukewarm point.

Bond possesses the charm and wit, Ethan Hunt and his crew possess the technology and Jason Bourne had intrigue. So, what does Jack Ryan have up his sleeve? Well, how about a highfalutin PhD? Yet he's also down-to-earth, humble and safe. In other words, he's the Captain America of Wall Street.

 

This reboot of the late Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan follows in the recent superhero trend of nabbing a handsome up-and-comer to take on a well known role. Enter JJ Abrams' Captain: Chris Pine. Pine follows in the footsteps of Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), Harrison Ford (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) and Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears) in taking on the C.I.A.-analyst hero Jack Ryan. What is interesting about this remake of Clancy's well read (and watched) character is that the writers, Adam Cozad and David Koepp, chose to veer away from the novels (written in the late '80s and '90s) and, at the outset, place Jack in the London School of Economics on the eve of 9/11. Of course, after Jack witnesses 9/11, he does his "duty" and joins the marines.

After being shipped to Afghanistan - not before somehow becoming a lieutenant - Jack gets injured in a helicopter attack and is subsequently seduced by a terribly miscast rehab doctor, Keira Knightley, and the Uncle Sam of espionage, Kevin Costner.

After a few more time jumps, try ten years and a job in Wall Street as a covert financial smarty pants, Jack is in the right place at the right time to uncover some dirty Russian business. Apparently, the Cold War is still warm - or lukewarm, perhaps? For the bad Russians are back to try and destroy the American economy. (Yeah, like they really have to take matters into their own hands to do that!) Well, believe it or not, the second Great Depression is going to come at the hands of the Russians. So move over Sochi Olympics, Edward Snowden drama and the sketchy Russian Foreign Ministry.

Here's how it works: after an oil pipeline is approved to run through Turkey, extinguishing Russia's stranglehold on the oil in the east - think The World Is Not Enough, a few dark horses in the Kremlin will somehow send the US economy into free fall. This will also occur after some brainwashed Russians blow up Wall Street.

Even director Kenneth Branagh's dramatic appearance as the stereotypically sour and brutal Russian baddie, who is, of course, obsessed with America's downfall, couldn't keep this one afloat. (It was difficult to take the ridiculous office sets in Russia seriously.) Branagh's entertaining, but can't keep the tale from becoming utterly predictable. The twists and turns in Moscow aren't inventive - it all felt a little too Mission Impossible - and the kidnapping of Cathy (Knightley) is predictable and underwhelming in how it plays out. It's at this point that we realise just how manufactured the movie is. There's nothing to make it memorable and it isn't likely to be a movie which will age well. 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Reboot Recruit is safe and lukewarm. Throwing half baked ideas in with adequate acting and run-of-the-mill characters. It can get exciting at times - the violent hotel scene in Moscow is arguably the most exhilarating moment - but also monotonous and cliche. Jack lacks intrigue and Pine doesn't dazzle or prove he's a leading action-man. And by the time Jack solves all the Russians' moves and counter-moves in less than five minutes, you know that the movie is as good as over. Might as well pack up and beat the traffic home.

The question isn't whether this will become a new series with Pine as Ryan, but whether it should. Lukewarm never goes down well. Just ask the church in Laodicea.
 

6/10