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Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.
Director:Kenneth Branagh
Writers:\Adam Cozad,
David Koepp, 1 more credit »
Stars:Chris Pine,
Kevin Costner,
Keira Knightley |
See full cast and crew »
Story line:
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 something so Jack goes to meet him, and he says he
will bring his fiancé along. But Cathy shows up and Jack has to tell her
the truth. Harper says Cathy has to go with Jack when she meets
Cherevin. Jack doesn't want her to but Cathy says she's going. So the
action begins that leads to the climax...
* This review may contain spoilers ***
Let's get the good parts out of the way first:
- Chris Pine.
OK, now that we got that out of the way...WHAT THE HELL, JACK RYAN
SHADOW RECRUIT???
Listen, in going over what really bothered me about this movie, I sort
of have to spoil some of it. So, before I do that, let me just quickly
summarize: Chris Pine proves himself as a good, maybe even great action
lead, but the story is so bare-bones and straight-forward (and at
times, stupid) that Pine's performance is really the only justifiable
reason to watch this. Shaky cameras during fight scenes DO NOT help the
cause either. (Seriously, this is such a pet peeve when it comes to
action movies, why do we still deal with this?) Jack Ryan: Shadow
Recruit scores a 2.5 out of 5 on The BDBOS.
Now, take this as your warning: BEYOND THIS POINT WILL BE SPOILERS.
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Show of hands...how many of you guys out there have seen the trailer
for this movie? The trailer hints at - and by "hints at", I mean "beats
you over the head with" - the idea that no one can be trusted.
Specifically, the trailer shows Keira Knightley's character (Jack
Ryan's love interest) apparently betraying Jack. The trailer also shows
Kevin Costner's character (Jack's mentor and superior) aiming at Jack
through the scope of a sniper rifle. Even the movie poster has the tag
line "Trust No One". So, you'd figure going in that you're in for some
serious double-crossing and not knowing who's on Jack's side, right?
No.
Literally, there is NO DOUBLE-CROSSING WHAT-SO-EVER in this movie. The
good guys from the beginning stay good the whole way through. Same with
the bad guys. As a matter of fact, there are way more people in this
movie you CAN TRUST than there are of the opposite. Apparently, the
"trust no one" warning was meant for the villain, since he's the only
one that gets deceived in any way. The line should have been "Trust no
one...if you're a terrorist."
Still not sure who to trust? There's another easy way to figure out
who's good and bad in this movie, and all you need is this simple
equation: American=good. Not American=bad. Again, a better tag line
would have been "Trust no one...unless they speak perfect English
without any foreign accent."
Now, some questions...
- If you're an assassin, and you're only job is to kill this
guy...shouldn't you be killing the guy at your first opportunity? Or
your second? Or third? And not HOURS LATER, after the guy learns that
you're carrying a gun?
- If you're a different assassin, and you've already used your
trademark knife to kill a few other people...where was your knife when
you had to fight the hero? Who was UNARMED during the fight???
If you've had severe spinal surgery, and went through months of
intense rehab just to be able to walk again...and, for argument's sake,
you're on a speeding motorcycle that SLAMS into the side of a van...how
are you then able to get up, walk away, and continue to chase the bad
guy???
- Will they let ANYONE into your hotel room if they simply claim to be
your wife? Without ANY sort of proof??
- Is Jack Ryan the SMARTEST PERSON EVER??? Because everyone else in the
CIA seem like morons.
- How many people did they send to Moscow for this mission??? It seemed
like there were 47 people on the street that were all in on the
operation, and yet the inexperienced financial officer who had
reconstructive spinal surgery and never killed anyone is the guy they
send in for ALL the dirty work.
Listen, with action movies, you're often asked to suspend disbelief for
the sake of enjoyment, but Shadow Recruit took too many liberties for
my liking. And, after all the promotion for the film, I left the
theater wondering if I saw the right movie. "Trust no one...except
everyone."
Chris Pine, this wasn't your fault.
2.5 out of 5. Pass on it.
(Hey guys, thanks for checking out my review. If you enjoyed it - or
even a tiny bit of it - then perhaps you'd enjoy checking out my little
page over at facebook.com/TheBDBOS. Movie reviews, news, chat, even the
occasional free ticket giveaway. All on your news feed. Stop by and say
wussup!)
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