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JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT – The Review – We Are Movie Geeks

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JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT – The Review

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JACK RYAN : SHADOW RECRUIT, from director Kenneth Branagh, tells the story of JACK RYAN, a young C.I.A. analyst who has uncovered a plot by Russia to crash the U.S. economy and forge an attack on American soil. The story, adapted from the works of Tom Clancy, leans toward the origin narrative, and how he came to be involved with the C.I.A. The film is the second attempt at rebooting the franchise, and it’s pretty safe to say that it failed. We’ve seen Russian espionage films before, and quite frankly, they do it better. If there is a terrorist threat on the United States, and the characters are racing against the clock to save life as we know it, shouldn’t I be on the edge of my seat? Instead, I was left sitting in a theater, bored out of my mind. The story is extremely dull and slow-moving, and it even lacks any sort of action filler.

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Chris Pine is a great actor, however, the script did not give him a fair chance at being a decent Jack Ryan. His character doesn’t have any sort of inspiring dialogue, his action sequences are limited, and his charm was muted. He’s filling the shoes of Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. This would be the time to step up, rather than dilute your leading man. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they did. Kevin Costner, who was once considered to star as Jack Ryan in one of the previous film, is the only interesting character on-screen. Costner plays Thomas Harper, a C.I.A. agent who mentors Ryan throughout the film. He has a strong presence, and a snarky disposition that carries well. Keira Knightley’s character, Cathy Muller, is probably the biggest disappointment in the film. They limited her lines, and made her seem like a daft woman – until she gets tied up in their mission. All of a sudden, the audience is supposed to care what happens to her. We haven’t really heard her speak, with the exception of accusing Ryan of cheating (BTW, no woman ends an accusation of cheating after a two sentence conversation), and we know nothing about her character. Why, as an audience member, would I want to shift my focus to a character that hasn’t been developed properly? An action sequence is useless if you don’t care what the end result is. As for the three of the interacting… that doesn’t really happen. There is no really back and forth, which adds to the dim nature of the film.

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Branagh doesn’t really do anything too fancy with the direction of this film. Maybe that is because he also stars as the villain of the  film, Viktor Cherevin, and was distracted by being on camera. He does play a convincing villain. I don’t expect a ridiculously showy, action packed blockbuster… but I do expect enough action and plot twists to be entertained. I don’t know what this film spent its $60 million dollar budget on, but maybe they need to hire an analyst like Jack Ryan to figure it out.

OVERALL RATING: 2 out of 5 stars

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT hits theaters January 17

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Nerdy, snarky horror lover with a campy undertone. Goonies never say die.