DVD Movie Review - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit leaves the Clancy novels behind and reboots the franchise with a fresh, likable lead.  Unfortunately, the movie travels down the overused action road of other spy films.

STORY:

Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), a bright young college student, joins the marines when the events of 9/11 affect him.  Ten years later, after serving in Afghanistan, Ryan falls in love with a doctor named Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley), while secretly being courted by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) of the CIA.  After becoming part of Harper's team, Ryan discovers a Russian plot to attack America and sink the American dollar.  After being whisked away to the motherland, he comes to find out his days of sitting behind a desk are over and he's now a full-blown, gun-toting field operative.  Suspicious taxis, stolen dogs, unbelievable room renovations, light bulb torture, and bad cell connections ensue.

"...so then I said, 'Up yours, Mr. Spock!  I'll fly this frigging ship into the frigging sun, and there 

ain't a damn thing you can do about it.'"

THOUGHTS:

Shadow Recruit is not a bad spy film.  In fact, it resides in the upper echelons of acting, story and character.  The problem lies in all the films that have come before it.  Have you seen a kick-ass spy fighting in close quarters?  Yep.  Have you seen car chases before?  Hmm...yep.  Have you seen a bad guy being evil for the sake of being evil with little or no background story revealed?  Sadly...yes.  Well, then you've practically seen Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.  What you haven't seen is Chris Pine expertly playing the part of kick-ass spy.  And that's really the only ace in the hole the film has…besides Superman's dad being his mentor of course.

The beginning of the movie does a great job developing the lead character's goals, mistakes, and desires.  And starting with him being affected by 9/11 is a creative way to bring the series up to date and attract a younger audience to an older character.  But after all the conspiracy theories and traumatic war events, the film unleashes action sequences that feel stale considering the gigantic amount of similar movies before it.  During one sequence of events, the movie even resembles The Americans television show.  Which poses a question: Should the Russians be the bad guy?  The 80's ended decades ago.  Are we to believe evil lurks behind each and every one of those hilarious driving videos and clever Putin memes?  Maybe...maybe not.

"Holy crap.  Spicy tacos and whiskey do NOT mix."

Now, if you're the type expecting a full-on Jason Bourne experience, then you might be a tad disappointed.  Jack Ryan isn't a Johnny Martial-arts.  He's an analyst caught up in field operations.  So the first hour is back story, conspiracy theories, unintelligible banking-funds dialogue, and relationship problems.  Followed by a few dramatic action sequences and then more analyzing.  The good thing is once the action does start rolling, the film smartly decides to not just have the hero save the world, but also have a personal victory for him to overcome.  This allows the audience to relate to Ryan and helps escalate tension and suspense. 

"I couldn't stand it anymore...I love you.  And I'll always love you--"  

CUT!  This just isn't working.  Let's move them out into the rain where it'll be more dramatic.

THE ACTING:

First off, if you don't like Chris Pine, then there's really no reason to see this film.  Even if you've read all the Clancy novels and Jack Ryan is your favorite character of all time, because there are still only a few similarities to the books.  The movie, instead, creates a charismatic, gun-wielding marine veteran that has the chops to go up against Bond or Bourne, but will most likely get taken out by either.  Pine is the perfect actor for the reboot though, and you'll definitely enjoy the movie more if he's on your favorite actor list.  His delivery of dialogue and emotional reactions to the world around him are superb.  It's just too bad the Ryan character has been slightly watered-down and Bourne-updated for today's audiences.

Keira Knightley spends most of her time worrying.  But not about the end of the world or Russia trying to conquer the USA.  She's more worried that her love-bear might be cheating.  So she basically becomes the nagging and interfering girlfriend.  The one you told not to show up at your work because you know…you're working.  But she does so anyway and now you have to explain yourself and of course, balance work, her emotions, and the end of the world.  She does work through these stereotypical problems though, but there is a little matter of facial expressions.  It seems her jaw decided to have a mind of its own while filming.  During her close-ups you'll see her mouth deform, twist, and bend every which way that isn't humanly possible.  It's surprising the director didn't see this and attempt to lump her over the head a few times to correct these facial spasms.  Speaking of the director…

"Cut."  

"But Mr. Branagh, you've been staring for fifteen minutes and--"

"Shut up and rewind that for review.  I think my left eye twitched."

Kenneth Branagh plays Viktor Cherevin, the resident film baddie.  He broods, and tenses, and broods, and shoots things, and then broods some more.  Branagh's Russian sounds superb, at least to a non-Russian reviewer, but he really didn't add too much to the plot.  And that would be fine, if the film didn't ask you to care for him.  The ending tries to show a man grief stricken and depressed, and asks you to feel compassion.  But with little or no backstory, his last scene will probably make you laugh before you cry.

Kevin Costner is currently the all American dad.  He even helped raise an alien from Krypton once.  There is no one more ideal for the role of Thomas Harper, also known as Jack Ryan's CIA father figure.  The banter between Ryan and Harper becomes the film's slight humor relief and their scenes together are the most memorable.  Nonso Anozie from Game of Thrones fame and the Dracula TV series makes an appearance to show his awesome size and friendly demeanor.  And just about everyone else is cannon fodder that could and should be fired into a brick wall just for the sake of action and comedy.

"No...see, I don't think you understand the influence I have in Hollywood.  You know I 

died for Superman, right?"

CONCLUSION:

Contained within Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is an abundance of technical banking mumbo-jumbo, minor plot holes, spy movie clichés, and the extremely puzzling question: Does Russia really make sense as the bad guy?  If you think drama or espionage is completely boring and movies like Step Up are where it's at, then forget all about Jack Ryan.  But if you're in the mood for a little movie magic with Chris Pine and Kevin Costner showing you how it's done, then feel free to rent.  Either way, movie-goers looking for a solid spy thriller with a top-notch leading man are safe within this film's slightly unoriginal arms.

3.5 out of 5 Stars (minus 1 star for the action clichés and a ½ star for Keira’s jaw)

P&P's Most Anticipated Movies for 2013

There are many reasons to want to see an upcoming film.  Maybe you want to see all the viewers of a specific genre, get fenced in and hosed down.  Or maybe you’re wondering whether a certain film will kill a franchise or character.  Whatever the reason, as of this point, here are our picks for 2013.  We love to change our mind, so don’t hold us to any of it.  You have been warned!

A good day to die hard

Feb 14^th

Can we stop with the ridiculous names already?  We know what the movie is, and we know who it's about, you don't have to get clever and try to cover that crap up.  It's Bruce Willis in the role that made him frigging famous.  We return time and time again to hopefully catch a glimpse of the old—stuffed-in-a-vent with just a wife-beater and a lighter, with nothing to do but save the day and talk to ourselves—John McClane.  So don't screw this up.

Oblivion

April 12^th

Now, we know what we said about Cruise in Jack Reacher, but this movie's trailer came out of nowhere and surprised the crap out of us.  Really...have you seen the trailer?  If not, get on it.  Earth is a devastated world in the future, with a New York fan that can't let go of the old world, trying to save this new one.  With unbelievable art direction, this is one of those movies that looks like it'll keep bringing us back for more, just because of the fantastic tech.  And with the looks of Olga Kurylenko running around, it promises to have eye-candy in every scene. 

Star Trek into Darkness

May 17^th

We are no Trekkies by any means, in fact watching the old series or movies made us want to punch babies and old ladies in the face, but after seeing the reboot, we want nothing more than to board the bandwagon with everyone else.  With J. J. Abrams’ direction and Chris Pine's excellent acting, we're stoked to see the latest installment. 

Pacific Rim

July 12^th

Let’s go down the “awesome movie” checklist: large beastly monsters destroying everything in their path—check.  Giant frigging Mechs, doing crazy Mech things—check.  Giant frigging Mechs punching large beastly monsters in the face—check.  Well, we're sold.  Sign us up for tickets.  You want a plot?  Plot, schmot...who cares about that?  We just want to see Mechs kicking the crap out of monsters for two hours.

The Wolverine

July 26^th

Dear Wolverine/Hugh Jackman,

You had such promise after viewing X2, but then threw it all away with Origins.  We just want to say that we still have faith in you, and the wolverine character.  You can still be great, if you want to.  So please, we beg you...don't throw this new movie into the garbage disposal and ruin wolverine forever, because we may never forgive you afterwards.  All we want is a decent film, with good acting and sharp claws that slice through everyone in Japan—like you were meant to do.  Thank you and have a great day.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

November 22^nd

The first movie was such a treat, we cannot wait for this one to rear it's utterly stupid, ridiculous, retarded with a side of ugly—head.  Please movie gods; is there any way to make this movie happen any sooner?  We'll give anything.  Our first born if required, to see this movie sooner.  Oh, and while you're granting wishes, please bring back another Twilight movie too, that way we can round up all these people at the same time, throw them in a fenced off state and hose them down.  We're excited...how about you?

Jack Ryan

December 25^th (Christmas)

After Chris Pine's special-agent effort in “This Means War”, we felt as though he needed to be some sort of secret agent ass-kicker, and here you go.  What started with Harrison Ford and fell into the crapper with Affleck will once again rise like the Phoenix.  Or at least we hope so...

You thought we forgot one didn't you...well, no.  We're just saving the best for last.  Whether we love the character or whether we wonder if this portrayal will sink the franchise forever, everyone's most anticipated movie of 2013 (around our circles, anyway) is:

Man of Steel

June 14^th

We're talking about the father of all Super heroes here, people.  Some of you are thinking, "Hey, Batman is awesome buddy."  We'll, he is, but in terms of Super heroes...you catch that—Super, Batman really is just an angry man in a dark suit with a cape.  Supes is the real deal.  He's the icon of perfection and good.  He's the hero that everyone wants to be, and tries to be.  No matter what, Superman always tries to do the right thing, without falter. 

Let’s not talk about the recent way in which DC comics has been writing him, because that's not Supes.  Supes fights for truth, justice and...AND the American Way. 

So will Zack Snyder's rebirth of the character do him justice?  We hope.  Does Henry Cavill look the part?  He does.  Is Goyer as the writer, a good thing?  We again, hope.  That last thing we need is a grittier, hard-boiled Superman.  Or a Superman who's so full of himself, that he doesn't know whether or not to be Superman.  (We don't need a reenactment of Smallville on the big screen).  What the fans need is just, simply—a really good story about a really good man.

Now I know some people hate the new suit and the fact that the great score by John Williams has been tossed aside, but what do you expect from a writer and filmmaker, who are trying to completely change how you see Superman.  We wouldn't care if Supes came out riding a unicycle with a gorilla on his shoulder, as long as the story is good and the story lends itself to the character.  We don't need Superman beaten and bloody, or run through a kryptonite grinder.  He can be grounded and still fly or be human-like and still deflect bullets.  They need to show how the character has flaws; not in himself but in the people he loves.  He does what he does, because of whom he loves and what he believes.  The grounded, human connection to Superman is his family.

What else can be said, besides...we hope they don't wreck it like Green Lantern.  That franchise was shot in the face before it came out of the womb.

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There are other films that are coming out that didn't quite make the cut, but are at least worth mentioning.

Kick-ass 2 (June 28^th - could be as good as the 1st, but probably just made for money)

Iron man 3 (May 3^rd - the second was just awful in our opinion, so good luck with the third)

Thor: The Dark World (October 30^th - the first one was a surprise, we'll see if they can keep the streak going)