Review of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) by Melissa W — 18 Mar 2015

Just awful. Chris Pine playing Jack Ryan and Keira Knightly playing Cathy Muller have incredible chemistry together, Kevin Costner as William Harper is great as the man who recruits Jack Ryan into the CIA, but none of them can do anything about the ridiculous plot, unbelievable action sequences, or Kenneth Branagh's taciturn villain, at his most menacing when he stares as people without a word or facial expression.

In "Shadow Recruit" we get "Jack Ryan Begins," a few quick scenes to set up his character 's patriotism and heroism, and to introduce him to his future wife. Ten years later, she has no idea what he really does for a living and he keeps asking her to marry him, so he can finally tell her. The more time spent with them, the better, but unfortunately Jack is off to Moscow on his own to track down some strange behavior in global financial markets.

So is Jack Ryan a CIA analyst, an expert at finances, and a genius at recognizing patterns, or is he James Bond, action spy? This movie wants him to be Bond ("Ryan, Jack Ryan"), so only a few scenes and exposition are dedicated to his analyst abilities. Despite little or no training in the field, he becomes action man, and despite Pine being the best asset this movie has, he can't quite pull off these scenes, because the character is so unbelievable and indestructible. The way in which Cathy becomes a part of the adventure really stretches believability as well, with the movie taking no time to smoothly fit her into the action.

I really wish I could like this movie more, because Jack Ryan has always been an interesting character. Unfortunately, updated and modernized, Jack Ryan becomes just another James Bond wannabe.