Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Enjoyable but All Too Familiar

After a brief break from Thor, actor/director Kenneth Branagh is tasked with reintroducing Jack Ryan to the big screen. Here is the thing about his superhero film – very mediocre trailer, surprisingly good experience. Again, Shadow Recruit nails the former in its marketing, but is the latter present or not?

At the London School of Economics, a student is on a bench, resting and perhaps bored. This is Jack Ryan (Chris Pine – Captain Kirk in Star Trek). He soon snaps out of his passive state after seeing on TV the events in New York on September 11th. Fast forward two years later, we see Ryan in the Army, heavily injured from a helicopter crash but still manage to rescue his friends. While in treatment, Ryan gets to meet wife-to-be Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley – Elizabeth Swann of Disney’s Carribean series) and future mentor Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner – Superman’s dad in Man of Steel). He is then recruited by Harper to become a covert CIA analyst, detecting ill-purposed money passing through Wall Street. This sets him on a collision course with Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh – Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn), a Russian terrorist who plans to take out the U.S. by collapsing its economy.

Reviving a character is no easy feat, especially when that character is created by Tom Clancy. There is a huge fan base out there for Jack Ryan and to appease them – by picking the right actor – is the same as winning half the battle. Chris Pine, I have to say, is a good choice.

Pine pulls off the look and mannerisms of an inexperienced agent/husband with a secret identity. What you will find here are sensitivity and intelligence, a total contrast of the arrogant and brashness of Pine’s turn as Captain of the Enterprise. Nevertheless, both characters possess a hefty amount of heroism, although it takes just ten minutes to establish it for Ryan as opposed to a whole film for Kirk. Try to separate Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin’s solid takes on Jack Ryan and you might avoid being disappointed (let’s forget about Ben Affleck, shall we?)

Casting highlights, however, are reserved for Costner and Branagh. The former effectively exudes warmth and seriousness as a father-mentor figure to Ryan. Not to mention he is in a different team of the CIA as well, the ones that do not indulge in recent controversies. Branagh employs coldness, menace, determination and a really thick Russian accent – basically the necessary ingredients for a convincing villain. On the subject of accents, Knightley’s American voice is effective but at first, probably like me, you will notice something odd about it. As for her performance, it is clearly not her best but adequate enough for those husband-and-wife moments in the film’s latter half a joy to watch.

In other aspects, Shadow Recruit is a treat for your eyes and ears. Haris Zambarloukos manages to get off certain audience’s nerves by shying away from Thor’s Dutch angles (where the shot is titled) and delivers beautiful frames. Be it Cherevin walking in the woods, a meeting in the park, an office data-heist or a chase across Manhattan, the off-kilter placements and movements demand one’s attention… should the editor remembers to keep calm. Each shot is accompanied with rousing music from Patrick Doyle (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) that gives the movie plenty of momentum. Like in Thor, the photography and score are good distractions from the plenty but only okay-choreographed action scenes.

That said, here is a challenge: try to watch Shadow Recruit without having James Bond and Jason Bourne running through your head? You will not be able to. The script from Adam Cozad and David Koepp plays out similar to the films of the aforementioned agents, plus other entries in the espionage genre too. The double life, heist, wife element etc., you have seen them all before and sometimes executed better too. The film’s 105-minute runtime offers brisk pacing but kiddie-pool depth storytelling (not to mention familiar too). At least Cozad and Koepp do not go overboard with the action sequences and instead details that nicely place the story in the Jack Ryan/Tom Clancy universe.

Mediocre trailers, passable experience – that’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Kenneth Branagh’s enjoyable but too familiar latest effort.