Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

by Adam Riske
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is very entertaining and just a fraction more interesting and compact than it should be. It’s not particularly memorable, but that’s ok. It’s a January release. If it's not horrible, it's an overachiever.

Before continuing, it would probably make sense to give you an idea of my Jack Ryan fan resume. I have a certain amount of affection for the franchise, predicated mostly on nostalgia. I liken my enjoyment of The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger to that of Bruce Springsteen music: half of the reason I enjoy it is because it’s good and half because it’s something my dad likes.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit comes 12 years after the last refresh, 2002’s underrated The Sum of All Fears, and the spy movie has changed quite a bit since that time. In fact, it was a movie that came out just two weeks after The Sum of All Fears that changed the game for the genre: The Bourne Identity. I was worried that Shadow Recruit was going to be aping the Bourne series or the Daniel Craig Bond movies, and it totally does. Oddly enough, that copying improves Shadow Recruit more than detracts from it. In some ways, I liked what Shadow Recruit did even more so than the Bourne series. This movie feels relatively unfussy. The Bourne series always bothered me because it is so up its own ass, with way too much control room nonsense and ridiculous jargon. Shadow Recruit has none of that. Also, Jack Ryan (played this time by Chris Pine) is not some tortured soul like Bond; while it works for that series (and an actor like Daniel Craig), it would be all wrong for Jack Ryan.  It's refreshing to see a spy franchise rebooted without all of the psychological baggage. Shadow Recruit also gets rid of many of the more tedious elements of the previous adventures featuring Tom Clancy’s hero. Those movies always felt flabby, with extraneous scenes adding 20 minutes of screen time and resulting in a sluggish pace for a thriller.
At only 105 minutes, Shadow Recruit is economical right from the onset. The first 20 minutes of the movie cover plot points that would take most movies (including earlier Jack Ryan entries) at least an hour, and yet the accelerated pace doesn’t detract from character development. In fact, the re-introduction to Jack Ryan in those early scenes is simply great, economical character development. Much of the credit for that goes to screenwriters Adam Cozad and David Koepp (of the first Mission: Impossible) and to Chris Pine who has an ingratiating presence on screen and is able to play a few different tones at once. He’s always believable as the somewhat nerdy, romantic and uncomfortable man of action and is doing something different here than his entertaining, tongue-in-cheek cowboy take on James Kirk in Star Trek.

This allows the rest of Shadow Recruit’s runtime to be a Mission: Impossible movie of sorts, where we’re thrown headfirst into a mission that moves briskly to its climax. Major portions of the movie take place in Moscow, and I can imagine this being a much worse movie if it were made pre-Bourne. It would waste a half hour on scenes of soldiers in furry hats drinking vodka and talking about Mother Russia and I’m sure there would be a subplot involving Rade Serbedzija because he was in every one of these movies back then. It’s so fantastic that Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit doesn’t have time for any of that bullshit.
I also enjoyed the four lead characters in this movie and the casting has much to do with that success. These are likeable actors, and my goodwill for the performers lends the movie emotional stakes. Besides Pine’s Jack Ryan, Kevin Costner brings some weight to his role as a CIA mentor. Part of the enjoyment of the Costner role is you can basically picture his character having been Pine’s 25 years ago. They have the same earnest, easy-to-root-for Boy Scout quality. The casting of Costner is such a no-brainer, yet shrewd at the same time because he just brings an immediate "comfort food" quality to the movie. It’s a role he seems born to play in the back half of his career. Kenneth Branagh (who also directed) makes for an entertaining, debonair Eurotrash villain. It’s the first performance of his in a while where I took notice of what a strong actor he is. He’s charming at times, but also very threatening when he needed. Last but not least, Keira Knightley brings warmth to her role as Jack Ryan’s fiancée. She had me invested immediately. Her chemistry with Pine is sweet and sort of innocent, which gives a little bit more heft to her character than the damsel in distress as it is written. 
Shadow Recruit does have its share of issues. The direction is about average. Director Branagh does a good job at generating suspense and is adept at scenes in which characters are having conversations or verbal confrontations. Yet, just as in his last action movie Thor, he doesn’t have much flair or personal style when it comes to shooting action. It’s all pretty generic. The plot is relatively uninteresting -- just the same semi-confusing, semi-stupid economic terrorism bullcrap we’ve seen in dozens of other geo-thrillers. The photography is really disappointing. I can imagine a version of this movie that is beautifully shot (think Skyfall), but it resembles a Universal Pictures movie from 1997. The score is also about as generic as it gets for this type of movie. These quibbles add up, but in the end don't matter enough to make me not recommend the movie.

All in all, there’s plenty to like in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. The characters are interesting, the performances are strong and it’s a good time at the movies. I don’t think it's bringing anything new to the spy genre or saying anything worthwhile about the world in 2014, but it’s well-made Hollywood product that works where it needs to work. I hope to see this crew back for another Jack Ryan entry in a couple of years. For a reboot of a long-dormant franchise, that’s about the best compliment you can give.

17 comments:

  1. Never been a huge fan of the franchise (my Dad is a left-wing, slightly anti-American ex-hippie so no connection there but I liked that line) but I always end up watching them and likely will this one as well - you make it sound better than I would've thought. Good to hear Chris Pine's range extends beyond Captain Kirk - I have yet to see him in anything else (should I watch Unstoppable?).

    On an unrelated note - are you going to take one for the team and find out if I, Frankenstein is better than anyone is expecting (a la After Earth)?

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    1. If 4 more people comment and say they want me to, I will. Otherwise, no. It's up to you F-Heads!

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    2. Yeah, I totally agree with John and that smart, handsome Sol fellow.

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    3. This is my favorite comment of the day.

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    4. I, give in. I, wi,ll go see I, Frankenstei,n in I,MAX because I, don't want to see August Osage County and those are basi,cally my opti,ons thi,s weekend.

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    6. Excellent! I look forward to hopefully hearing or reading your thoughts. Also, just in case, I'm sorry in advance.

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  2. "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit comes 14 years after the last refresh, 2002’s underrated The Sum of All Fears..." Uh... I'm no math genius, but... does not compute, does not compute. :-)

    Enjoy Chris Pine and rebooted Jack Ryan while it lasts; the opening weekend was so bad Paramount is already seriously thinking about nixing the franchise.

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    1. Correction made. I'm not sure it's the kind of typo that requires being called out, since it's clearly a minor mistake that doesn't affect the content, but ok.

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    2. I did better in English than Math on my ACT. I was very popular and could only balance one with my social life.

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  3. "It’s the first performance of [Branagh's] in a while where I took notice of what a strong actor he is."

    Wow, I consider him one of, if not the, best living actors, period. Granted, there's a bit of man-crush there, but has he ever been bad? I mean, even in Wild Wild West, he played the hell out of a rotten part.

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    1. I never said he was bad. Two different things. I had forgotten how good he was because I've been seeing him in things with My Week with Marilyn and Valkyrie which don't arouse much passion or enthusiasm one way or the other.

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  4. First things first, I third the comment of John Murphy and newcomer Not Sol and say brave the midnight crowds for I, Frankenstein. Are Aaron Eckhart's abs even more glorious in IMAX?

    As to Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit this movie was a really solid spy movie, good if not great cinema. One thing that was very refreshing was an almost complete lack of CGI (save for one bad shot at the climax of the film) The one thing that frustrates me watching this movie is that it could have been great, all Brannagh has to do is shoot his action shots with less cuts (not a ton just let off the gas a little bit) and one of my ultimate pet peeves in these type of movies, telling us exactly where we are when it's extremely easy to tell where we are. I think we all know showing the Statue of Liberty means we are in New York City, I dont need type to come on underneath saying New York City, NY USA.

    Now that I think about it I think the Seagal/Russell joint Executive Decision does that a hell of a lot, odds are this will be the best January release as the next thing that's even remotely on my radar is the lego movie in February.

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    1. Now I want to watch Executive Decision again.

      Brave the midnight crowds (for I, Frankenstein) made me laugh out loud. Thanks for starting my day out with that. I'm going to hold out for I, Bride of Frankenstein with Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

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    2. I take it back. "Newcomer Not Sol" is my new favorite comment of the day.

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  5. "...because it’s good and half because it’s something my dad likes."

    Oh man. I relate to that so much. haha Well said.

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