Review of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) by Joe A — 11 Jan 2015

Reboot of this series based on Tom Clancy's character features Chris Pine as a young Ryan recruited into the CIA as an analyst by agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) after an impressive tour in Afghanistan that left Ryan with an injured back.

Once healed, Ryan is sent undercover for 10 years on Wall Street to uncover funds being channeled to terrorist organizations but, instead finds a plot between Russian businessman Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh who also directs) and high ranking Russian officials to completely bring down the U.

S. economy. Harper thrusts Ryan into the field that takes the rookie agent from Moscow and back to New York City to stop the plot which involves a exploding a bomb under Wall Street. Branagh delivers an entertaining thriller based on Adam Cozad and David Koepp's screenplay and gets good performances from himself and his cast.

The film only falters when Ryan's girlfriend Cathy (Keira Knightley) gets involved in the intrigue as it is cliche' and highly improbable the CIA would risk the mission by involving a civilian directly in so delicate an operation.

But, otherwise it is a solid enough thriller and while not memorable, it does pass the time nicely and moves quickly with enough action to offset the espionage.