Written by / 1/17/2014 / 1 Comment / , , , , , , ,

CHRIS PINE IS JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT

year: 2014 rating: **1/2
Chris Pine became famous playing a young Captain James T. Kirk in what seemed like standard STAR TREK prequels but turned out being something else entirely, having to do with an alternate universe or timeline, or something…

And now he’s a reborn Jack Ryan, author Tom Clancy's resilient CIA operative played by Alec Baldwin in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and taken over by Harrison Ford in PATRIOT GAMES and A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (and the Ben Affleck attempt).

Like Captain Kirk, this Jack Ryan exists on another plain altogether and, having become more of a timeless James Bond, he’s now part of the 911 generation... And that’s where things start, right on the fateful morning of September 11th, 2001 and Jack, attending college in England, winds up joining the Marines, becomes an injured war hero and is rehabilitated by his doctor, who just happens to be a single and gorgeous Keira Knightley as Cathy Muller: At this point the film skips past three years like nothing at all. What’s important is Jack’s first assignment takes place in Russia, a once Communist country now (supposedly) bathed in opulent capitalism. His mission is to thwart a plot to... well... let's be carefully cryptic because SHADOW RECRUIT attempts to engage like a page-turning novel wherein various clues and twists keep the story moving… There is an intense set-up to how Ryan goes from desk jockey to intrepid agent, and yet the best parts don’t deal with sporadic pulse-thumping action sequences.

When the chief antagonist is introduced, played by the director himself, Kenneth Branagh, there’s a potentially intriguing James Bond vs cerebral villain aspect… Too bad the results are a predictable kidnapping and an 11th hour terror threat back in America.

In the title role, Chris Pine does a decent enough job: sophisticated one minute and getting his hands dirty the next… Meanwhile the clichĂ© romance between Jack and Cathy pales to the slowburn interaction with Kevin Costner’s CIA mentor Thomas Harper. Both make a pretty good team. The main problem are the computers, so quick to find imperative clues there’s little purpose left for Ryan.

While not a perfect espionage thriller, SHADOW is entertaining but ultimately feels like the first half of an introduction stretched into a feature length film… Let’s hope the next venture (if there is one) goes beneath the modern advancement to see what this new recruit is really made of: Like the Bond franchise shed most of the signature gadgets, Jack needs far less technology to really shine.
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , ,

1 comment:

  1. I really liked this movie and was really disappointed in it at he same time. It had all the proper ingredients: Good sometimes great director Kenneth Branagh, a good young actor in Chris Pine as the *new* Jack Ryan - as a fan of the Jack Ryan novels I thought it was interesting having him in Afghanistan and that's how he got his back injury, Keira Knightley who about 10 years ago seemed to be the IT Hollywood-British actress but seems to have been able to keep her sanity and not been overexposed in recent years - always loved her - still do, and then crusty and awesome Kevin Costner. And you have Branagh acting as the villian.

    Instead of a super-awesome movie, it seemed to have all been tossed into a blender and then poured out into a pre-planned mold. It was alright. I really liked it, but damnit it not only could have but should have been A LOT BETTER! Such wasted potential. That's why I was so disappointed in it. That being said I'd like to see Christ Pine be Jack Ryan again and maybe the second time make it be awesome!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

DEFENDING THE BREEZY SEQUEL 'BREAKIN 2': ELECTRIC BOOGALOO'

Title: BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO Year: 1984 Rating: *** Cannon Films' BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO  was rushed out the same...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "Yeah, and the devil serves lemonade, right?" David Proval, Kojak

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)MODEL SHOP 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year