Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

Jack Ryan

As most of you probably already know, we've got a new flick hitting US theaters for Christmas 2013 based on the whole CIA analyst Jack Ryan saga. It’s all based on the works of Tom Clancy, and this time around, we’re getting Chris Pine stepping into the role of "James T. Kirk" type hero. They just dropped the first official still from the movie today, showing Ryan tearing it up on a motorcycle. Honestly, it feels like Pine has to be riding a bike in basically every single blockbuster he does—just look at Star Trek, for example. 😁

Just to recap for anyone who needs a refresher, the franchise has seen Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), Harrison Ford (Patriotic Games, Clear and Present Danger), and Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears) play the lead. This time, Pine is playing him back when he was just a temp financial analyst working over in Moscow. The plot kicks off when he discovers his boss (Kenneth Branagh) is actually plotting a massive terrorist strike against the USA to completely wreck the global economy.

Keira Knightley is playing Ryan's wife in this one, and Kevin Costner is playing his handler at the CIA. It looks like Costner is making a huge comeback next year, first with Man of Steel and then following that up with Jack Ryan. Oh, and Kenneth Branagh is also directing the thing.

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IMDB

As a huge Tom Clancy fan, I’m definitely looking forward to checking this one out.

'Jack Ryan' 'Jack Reacher' 'Alex Cross' – what comes next? 😁 It feels like Hollywood has started playing it safe by simplifying movie titles—just so nobody gets confused about what they’re actually watching. Honestly, this isn't bad news, though it kind of bugs me how they keep doing these reboots with a younger and younger Ryan... but hey, the other movies were solid enough (my overall --really just) and I’m crossing my fingers this one stays in line with its predecessors.

New movie incoming—we've got Chris Pine playing Jack Ryan alongside Kevin Costner as John Clark:

The new Chris Pine movie set in Russia. 😁



And we've got Kenneth Branagh on board too:

Two fresh movies.

The trailer is dropping soon, and word on the street is the movie is going to be titled Jack Ryan: Shadow One ..

James T. Kirk was an absolute legend... he even pulled double duty as a CIA analyst back in the day... 😁

It’s all fine, I guess... it's just that... Ryan is an analyst—you know, the kind of guy who actually sits behind a desk—and in the movies, he only really gets into the fray when he's absolutely backed into a corner. It just doesn't sit right trying to turn him into James Bond.

Harrison Ford is easily the best at this. He perfectly captures that vibe of an ordinary guy caught in extraordinary circumstances.

Expect some pretty standard action flick tropes here. But hey, at least it can't be any worse than anything involving Affleck.

You're now Operational

movie trailer

Wiliam Shatner as a great cop, and his son Chris Pine is even better CIA analyst. 😬

Casino Royale intro remake 😬

I know it’s a January release, but man, this was rough. Pretty much nothing about it worked—except maybe Branagh’s acting, though I’d still point out how terrible Kevin Costner was and how grating Keira Knightley felt 😁 (she kept giving off those "let's meet halfway" vibes that reminded me of some old cheesy sitcom trope). I was looking for something mindless to zone out to, but instead, I just got a tedious slog.

4/10

More thoughts here:
http://passpopcorn.com/2014/01/18/we...-recruit-2014/

Look, it was obvious from the get-go that this movie was going to be a total disaster... ☕

Watched it yesterday. Honestly? It’s all been done before. They just can't seem to decide if this is supposed to be a serious drama or a straight-up action flick—it’s stuck somewhere in the middle. Turns out Ryan isn't just some brilliant analyst, he's basically James Bourne, but the whole thing feels kind of lukewarm...
The standout for me was Kenneth Branagh playing the villain—he absolutely blows Rade Šerbedžija out of the water.
Just a completely generic thriller.
We aren't getting anything like The Hunt for Red October anymore, or those classic Ryan movies starring Ford.

Not good.

rapidviper54 said:Man, you could tell from the jump this movie was going to be absolute garbage... ☕

I'm with you. Total déjà vu. Just chewing on old gum. Even with all the hype, it felt limp, boring, empty, and way too predictable. Still, I sat through the whole thing.

2/10

It feels like they’re just trying to turn Jack Ryan into another Bourne. Such a shame; this could have been the start of a great franchise.

Honestly, it was pretty terrible—actually, calling it a disaster might be an understatement.

3/10

If they had just gone all out with some insane action sequences, maybe it would’ve been watchable.
Instead, it’s just a mindless pile of Ryan, Bourne, and Hunt clichés.

I swear, it feels like they filmed this entire thing over a single weekend just to cash in on the brand without any intention of actually making a decent movie.

And honestly, I take back what I said in my previous post. This might actually be worse than Ben Affleck. If only it were at least on the level of The Sum of All Fears.