Review of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) by John M — 08 Jul 2014

About as middle of the road as they come. An origin story of sorts, this is about CIA operative Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), going over to Russia to investigate a financial conspiracy. Now I am unfamiliar with the previous Jack Ryan movies, so I just viewed this as a standard action movie, and as that.

.. it was okay. The thing about this movie is that it is strikingly average, so while it is certainly very watchable, there is absolutely no wow factor about it. It's directed by Kenneth Branagh, and while I will say he is competent enough of a director, it really doesn't feel inspired.

All of the spy elements and action scenes are handled decently enough, but are you going to remember anything about this movie two weeks later? The answer to that question is, no, not really. Pine has enough charisma to carry the movie, but I'm not really sure why they got somebody as big as Keira Knightley to play the love interest, as she really isn't given a whole lot to do, other than nag.

Although this is passable, it is no James Bond, and it is exactly the type of movie you would catch your dad watching on cable TV on a Saturday afternoon, and even then he would be switching back and forth between a sports game and think it's just alright.