Jack Ryan : Shadow Recruit

Whenever you see those cheap looking widescreen trailers on television with the black borders, you know you are in for a movie that barely made the cut for a theatrical release. I call these trailers the anti Hype Williams videos; you guys remember Jay Z’s Big Pimpin video and every subsequent Williams video that followed, they were all shot widescreen and came complete with those revolutionary white borders. I don’t remember much of the movie Belly but for the purposes of this post I’m going to go ahead and say that entire film was shot this way as well. Well Jack Ryan was featured in one of these cheesy trailers and typically when you see an old Kevin Costner starring in a forgotten Tom Clancy influenced story, you’re either in for absolute freshness or in for a Mr. Brooks part deaux; sadly this fell somewhere in between.

This movie takes you to Jack Ryan’s initial start in the CIA, the days before he was Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford; which doesn’t make any sense since he was already deep in the CIA when Hunt for Red October took place in 1984. I guess in the year 2014 we finally develop a time traveling machine so that Van Damme can go back in time and save Paul Walker with the hopes that he will be cast as the villain in Fast and Furious 10. Just a bit too soon? Oh well, the writers claim that Ryan was inspired to quit business school and join the army to serve his country when he saw the Towers fall on 9/11. After his chopper was shot down in combat, he is recruited by a CIA head (Costner) to join them so that he can help in preventing another attach on US soil. His job is to be a financial analyst for a global bank and to report any suspicious activity that takes place. One day he notices a number of large accounts that are based out of Russia that have anonymous owners.  And since tensions are high between the U.S. and Russia, he decides to fly over and get more information on these accounts. Next thing he knows he’s in a fight for his life as he unravels their plot to attack and crumble the U.S. economy through a terrorist attack.

It’s a decent enough storyline as director and main villain Kenneth Branagh holds true to the tone and pace of the original three Ryan movies. These were the Bourne movies before Matt Damon popped on the scene but the difference is, Jack Ryan is a desk jockey who is forced into live action. So it’s basically every middle aged white guy’s wet dream; being forced into covert operations while still trying to balance a normal home life with your hot wife (Keira Knightley). Branagh is great as the villain and he nails the Russian accent. He has everything you want in a villain, an accent, and a penchant for vodka, vanity, and women. It was like listening to Yakov Smirnoff yell “In Mother Russia you no have women, women have you!!!! Oooooh” When I made this awful joke mid movie my buddy pointed out to me that women actually do have human beings, it’s called child birth. Whatever, Yakov doesn’t care about semantics.

The point is, there’s enough espionage, action, and Keira Knightley in this movie to keep you entertained. And even though Costner doesn’t do a pirouette like he does in Mr. Brooks I will still give this movie a rating of barely FRESH. I cant believe I made it through this entire review without cracking a lame joke about Costner recruiting men in shadows.