Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

RATING: C 

First off, let's begin this review with a little disclaimer: I have never seen the Hunt for Red October, or  any of the other Jack Ryan movies (although I think HFRO is the only one most people care about). Thus, this universe was brand new to me when I first watched this movie. It looked pretty interesting--almost looked like a conspiracy theory type of movie when I first saw the trailer. 

It turned out to be nothing of the sort--it actually is more of a thriller than anything. Or at least, I think that's what it's trying to be. Jack Ryan starts out as a Marine who is no longer able to do his job due to a severe injury. And so who picks him up next? The CIA. And they have him doing what? Being a covert analyst trying to find possible terrorist attacks within... financial transactions and economy stuff. 

Being a guy who's never fully understood the economy/stocks business, things do tend to get confusing pretty quick. Jack *does* end up uncovering something... and of course it involves Russia. Someone trying to collapse the United States economy. 

It turned out to be a pretty sophisticated movie, which surprised me. Things go by pretty slow at first, but at the same time when I randomly paused the film about 61 minutes in, I was stunned to see that I was already two-thirds of the way through the film. I was immediately thinking, "They're not gonna have much time to resolve this" (it being a 107-minute movie). Turned out I was right--things get more frantic as the movie nears a close, and ultimately we do get a couple car chases and fights late in the film. 

There are indeed some issues with this film--one of them being that it doesn't even know what type of movie it wants to be. Does it want to be a thriller? Does it want to be an action popcorn movie? Does it perhaps want to be a drama of sorts? It kind of flits around at times. Meanwhile, those who do not fully understand the background of all the financial and economic stuff will be quite confused--and probably bored as well for close to the first hour of the film. As well as the genre being in question, the target audience is perhaps in question as well. 

There certainly are some good things to crow about, though. The acting is quite good--Chris Pine and Kevin Costner are good in their roles as Jack Ryan and the CIA guy who hires him, and Kenneth Branagh (who also directed the film) stars as a Russian villain and does a *brilliant* job of it. The action sequences near the end are pretty decent. 

I can certainly see this appealing to adults looking for a little more sophistication in their action and thriller films. Even then, it won't be perfect, but it'll be a little more enjoyable. Kenneth Branagh alone may be worth the trip for some. Sadly, few others are going to find much enjoyment. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit isn't really that bad. But it's not really that good either.