Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2013)

                  Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2013)                                          Action | Drama | Thriller 

RELEASED ON - 25 December 2013 (USA)

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' review: A clever mix of the classic international-espionage film ingredients

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" though, gets the international-espionage ingredients almost exactly right.

Of course its immediate inspiration isn't Ian Fleming, but Tom Clancy. And it fudges the formula a bit, giving its superspy a fianceé. (It helps that she's the charming Keira Knightley; it hurts that she discards some of that charm by doing an ugly American accent.)

But the story (an original one, cowritten by David Koepp, who also did the original "Mission: Impossible" reboot) not only seems to look to the Bond movies for ideas, but to the first, pre-Hollywood Bond novels.

So the Russians are the baddies again (funny how those things go in cycles). There is a bit of brutal hand-to-hand combat, some barbed dinner-table conversations with the accented villain and, of course, a climax with a big ticking time-bomb.

But, more important, there's also a sense – lost over the many Bond films – of a young military hero turned spy who yearns for the clean, uniformed struggles of the battlefield, who is sickened by his first killing and who depends on a mentor to guide him.

Of course, the film draws from the original Clancy books, too. And manages to be true to the series while avoiding the cinematic baggage brought by such former onscreen Jack Ryans as Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.

The movie, briskly directed by Kenneth Branagh, begins with Chris Pine's Ryan as a college student – and before the credits have even begun, he's seen 9/11, joined the Marines, been shot down in Afghanistan, met the love of his life at the hospital, and been recruited by the CIA.

You see what I meant by "briskly"?

Soon Ryan's working undercover on Wall Street, looking for secret terrorist bank accounts -- when he notices some financial irregularities in Russia. So now it's off to Moscow, where the games of cat and mouse quickly begin, and soon involve not just bonds, but bombs.

Branagh shows up as the bad guy, too, a Russian mobster-millionaire out to wreck the American economy, and he has just the right amount of fun with the part, and the accent. (Even more convincing – not surprisingly – is Mikhail Baryshnikov as an icy Kremlin official.)

And while Pine isn't much more than brash and energetic as Ryan, adding some grey hair and gravitas to the American side is Kevin Costner, very good as the military man who brings the younger man into the CIA, turns him into a weapon and then aims him at the target.

Not that the movie doesn't make some missteps. For example there's a scene where Knightley, who thinks her husband is having an affair, is relieved to find out he's actually only been off killing Russian agents; this might work played as very black comedy, but it's done too straight here.

And – by Clancy standards, even by Fleming standards – the central plot idea is a little xenophobic, at best, with nasty Russian nationalists out to wreck the U.S. economy. (What, the filmmakers think Americans can't screw up capitalism all by themselves?)

But the blue-eyed Pine is cheerfully courageous ("like a Boy Scout on a field trip," Costner mock-grumbles), the (occasionally real) Russian locations are colorful, and the whole thing concludes with a well-staged race against the inevitable ticking clock.

Yeah, so it's not quite Bond, James Bond. But it's Ryan, Jack Ryan – a promising start to a probable new franchise, and an early bright spot on the late winter film calendar. 

-ruledeworld.wordpress.com

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT
Grade: B+
Rated: PG-13

Running time: 105 minutes
Playing at: Multiple locations; opens Friday, Jan. 17

Cast and crew: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley; directed by Kenneth Branagh. 

The lowdown: A surprisingly economical spy thriller, with Chris Pine playing a younger, rebooted version of Tom Clancy's hero Jack Ryan, here on his first mission (to Moscow, no less). Complete with hand-to-hand combat and cat-and-mouse conversations, it feels a bit James-Bondish – which isn't a bad thing – and Kenneth Branagh (who also directs) makes for a fine villain. 

Plot Summary;

A new version of the saga of CIA analyst, Jack Ryan. It begins when Ryan was attending the London School of Economics; and 9/11 happened. He would then enlist in the Marines and would go to Afghanistan. The chopper he was on would get shot down and he would suffer severe injuries that would require intense rehab. While there, he grabs the attention of a man named Harper, who works for the CIA and would like him to finish his studies and get a job on Wall Street so he can find out of any terrorist plot through their finances. A few years later, Ryan finds anomalies in the accounts of a Russian named Cherevin. Jack thinks he should go to Russia to find out what's going on. Jack was told not to tell anyone who he is and that includes his girl friend Cathy. But she catches Jack in some lies which makes her doubt him. Jack goes to Russia and Cherevin assigns him someone to take care of him. But when they're alone the man tries to kill Jack. So Jack kills him. Obvious Cherevin is hiding ...

                  

Cast

Credited cast, sorted by IMDb STARmeter:
	Chris Pine	...	Jack Ryan
	Keira Knightley	...	Cathy Ryan
	Kevin Costner	...	William Harper
	Kenneth Branagh	...	Viktor Cherevin
	Colm Feore	...	Rob Behringer
	Gemma Chan
	Nonso Anozie	...	Embee
	Karen David	...	Penn
	David Paymer
	Lee Nicholas Harris	...	Wall Street Employee
	Aleksandar Aleksiev	...	Cherevin's Bodyguard
	Hannah Taylor Gordon	...	Sarah
	Julisita Salcedo	...	Wall Street Employee
	Lee Asquith-Coe	...	SWAT Boat Commander
	Deborah Rosan	...	Customer

1. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Reviews
   2014 Film
   1. 6.5/10
      IMDb-11,814 votes
   2. 57%
      RULEDEWORLD-143 reviews
   3. 57%
      Metacritic-36 reviews

Other Details

Budget

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend

$17,200,000 (USA) (19 January 2014) (3,387 Screens)
HUF 26,131,119 (Hungary) (19 January 2014) (47 Screens)
PHP 12,714,038 (Philippines) (19 January 2014) (115 Screens)

Gross

$30,452,820 (USA) (26 January 2014)
$17,200,000 (USA) (19 January 2014)
PHP 19,253,948 (Philippines) (26 January 2014)
PHP 12,714,038 (Philippines) (19 January 2014)

Weekend Gross

$9,084,687 (USA) (26 January 2014) (3,387 Screens)
$17,200,000 (USA) (19 January 2014) (3,387 Screens)
PHP 3,762,899 (Philippines) (26 January 2014) (40 Screens)
PHP 12,714,038 (Philippines) (19 January 2014) (115 Screens)

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