Review of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) by Pribbons — 22 Jan 2014

What do I want and expect from a movie like this? I want a movie that mixes intelligence with death, explosions and action. Did I get it? No. Any movie of this genre post-Bourne and post Bond Daniel Craig era has a lot to live up to. You can't expect those heights to be reached by each movie but with such money behind it and a reliable if old franchise that offers plenty to work with this movie should have done better and come closer.

The worst crime of this movie is that it is boring. I don't care that the 'Russian' villain was cartoonish. We all love those. What was bad was the lack of action! Yes it's a thriller but it's an action thriller, correct me if I'm wrong. Explosions? One lousy under water one. The Sum of All Fears didn't prevent the nuclear strike it let it happen and then explored the aftermath! Deaths? Only a few and not memorable. Tension? Hardly. We all know the hero will get the goods and save the day, the success in these films is in making the viewer feel that is in doubt. To do that the film needs to have a few surprises up it sleeve - typically using a supporting cast more. You can't do much with only four characters, you can't kill people off or have people be exposed as not who they are. In fact you can hardly do anything at all with four characters (Pine, Costner, Knightley and Branagh).

So, so dull. A decent starting point of a plot lost by lack of action, lack of thriller development, lack of tensions, no surprises and bizarrely a bare bones cast. This, for lack of brevity, is without starting on Pine being too good looking and not a good enough actor to play Jack. If this is what the return of Russia as the villain's looks like I will keep my Muslim terrorist movies for the time being. DULL.