We revisit Tom Clancy’s world with Jack Ryan in this latest action film by Director (and Russian baddie) Kenneth Branagh. Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), a CIA analyst investigates accounts in Russia that threaten to destroy the U.S. economy.
In order to differentiate from other government-focused action films, it’s in the small details. Pine’s acting is definitely something not to simply brush over. As it’s often repeated throughout the film, Jack is an analyst, a government employee more apt to sitting behind a desk happily looking over figures, managing finances, and ensuring America’s economic security (cue the ‘Star Spangled banner). However, as we’ve seen in the trailers, things quickly escalate once his status is bumped up considerably. As an operative, Jack is still adjusting to his new found responsibilities and after one act forces him to do something rash, it’s in his body language that you really start to empathize with the boy scout. He’s a little more than uneasy and it’s in this small gesture that we not only start to see a layer peel from Jack, but also evidence of Pine’s acting ability beyond the usual antics required of him in your standard action flick. Nevertheless, we do receive a nice dose of that in this film (i.e., a scene cut right from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, an intense bathroom fight scene, and a motorcycle chase scene).
Additional minute details that are nice to see are the way exchanges are handled and procedures carried out between agents. While it’s something we’ve seen in many films, passing classified documents and/or devices is handled well ehre. As to how this isn’t as redundant and dull as it may seem to include (especially in this type of film), it’s not a device merely to impress audiences, but also play a rather useful role in the story (although, frankly, it does look cool).
As stated previously, Branagh portrays our antagonist whom, for the most part, seems like the typical (i.e., irrationally harsh) enemy, but with time, he starts to become a little more than a flat character in a subplot that involves his family. However, as great as Branagh’s acting is, the story doesn’t go into any real depth about his motivations to plot against the United States. It’s in this miscommunication that he is (mostly) a one-dimensional character, which is a shame given that the role falls on an actor whom many have called “a modern-day Laurence Olivier”.
‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’ has quite a few moments that just don’t seem to fit either the plot or the characters. In one sequence, Viktor gives a monologue that makes him sound like the very cartoonish and stereotypical foreign bad guy that films over the years have led us to believe is standard. In his monologue, he threatens Jack in a way that you assume, sadly enough, in the first five minutes and is also one that involves Jack’s girlfriend, Cathy (Kiera Knightley), whose character is poorly written (but more on that later). Furthermore, this sequence takes the focus away from the main objective and instead of merely being a subplot, serves more as a means to an end.
While demonstrating that Cathy is an intelligent doctor to Jack’s equally intelligent analyst-turned-operative, she’s a rather irrational and impulsive one. It is in her instability that the story starts to draw its attention. Additionally, the chemistry is a little off balance with Pine clearly showing more affection in his acting. It’s debatable whether this is more of a problem with the script than with the actress’ ability to depict multiple emotions, but since Cathy’s actions rather than her mannerisms imply her feelings towards Jack, the tone of their “relationship” gives off mixed signals making it more difficult to believe these two are a couple.
‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’, while missing its target regarding script structure and logic, is still a fun, fast-moving mid-winter blockbuster for those that’d like a break from all of the Oscar-chasing dramas.
Jim’s Rating: 6.8/10