 |
| Chris Pine and Kevin Costner |
Latest Jack Ryan film "Shadow Recruit" is entertaining fluff
The latest Jack Ryan spy film "Shadow Recruit" has big shoes to fill, considering that the Tom Clancy character has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. "Shadow Recruit," which isn't an adaptation of a Clancy novel but is an original story, is a mediocre, tame effort, though it's filled with some nice action set pieces. The film follows a young Jack (Chris Pine) as he uncovers a Russian terrorist plot under the guardianship of his handler, Harper (Kevin Costner), that could impact the world financial markets. Directed by and co-starring Kenneth Branagh as the central Russian villain, it lacks the intensity and complexity that Clancy could've provided, not to mention some bad dialogue (particularly from a badly miscast Costner), banal plotting and a preposterous roll-your-eyes climax. Pine, who is a solid James Kirk in the new "Star Trek" reboot, is unfortunately the blandest of all the actors who have played Ryan, though director Branagh tries hard to give the film some energy with a few serviceable action set pieces not to mention having the lovely Keira Knightley as the love interest, but none of this can hide the fact that Pine is just a boring actor. Also, Branagh himself, a sturdy character actor and director, is the film's weakest character and one of the most recent milquetoast villains of recent memory. Overall, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," with a decent cast and some entertaining moments, is a piece of fluff and mostly forgettable in the long run. While it isn't terrible, I don't see the relaunch of this popular movie franchise having much success unless they return to Clancy's source material.
Wes's Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment