Review of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) by Foxgrove — 28 Jan 2014

Jack Ryan is a slick and very professionally mounted action movie in which the unfolding is more entertaining than the denouement. Two sequences in particular are nail bitingly tense and they elevate the film to a higher plane than most other movies of this genre type. It also helps that the acting is above average. Chris Pine, Kiera Knightley, Kenneth Brannagh and Kevin Costner all offer up excellent characterisations and it's good to see Knightley out of costume (period costume, that is) for a change. Brannagh, complete with foreign accent, offers up a villain to compete with the best and his directorial style keeps everything fast and furious. He seems to be relishing the change of pace with this film and his previous one, 'Thor', which was an equally action packed and even more ambitious project. In any event both are a long way from the literate and stately Shakespeare movies that have been his signature directorial achievements up to now.

Only the final chase sequence lets things down as the story becomes more improbable and frenetic. It's all tosh, of course, but for most of its 105 minutes one is quite happy to invest time with it.