Review of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) by Andre W — 23 Jun 2014

This reboot is a decent thriller, but it could have been much, much better. I thought there were some really well done, tense action sequences; the Moscow bathroom fight (hinted at in the trailer) was impressive and well choreographed. The plot wasn't overly complicated (a common problem with thrillers) and the soundtrack kept the film moving at a brisk pace. The movie certainly wasn't boring, not at all.

Unfortunately what brings this film down are the performances as they were quite vanilla. The characters lacked any real emotion and were unconvincing. Throughout the film it just kind of felt like they were going through the motions and at no point did I feel the end was ever really in doubt (it wraps up nicely at the end, unsurprisingly). It's worth a watch, but nothing really to get excited about.