There’s nothing better than seeing a great action spy movie on the big screen. With the next Bond and Bourne films not out until 2015, I welcomed the return of Tom Clancy’s courageous CIA agent, Jack Ryan.
This reboot of the much loved title character (previously played by Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck) opens with Ryan (Chris Pine) as a foreign exchange student watching the 9/11 terror attacks on the news. This motivates him to become a veteran fighting in Afghanistan, where an attack leaves him with a broken back.
Ryan’s time at a rehabilitation centre results in him meeting Cathy Muller (the love interest – played by Keira Knightly) and William Harper (a CIA agent played by Kevin Costner). Harper recruits Ryan to investigate a Russian named Viktor Cherevin, who’s playing hopscotch on the American stock market. They soon discover that Cherevin’s criminal activity goes way beyond what the CIA had initially thought, and may see thousands of innocent people lose their lives.
Can our hero save the day? Head to the Showcase Cinema to find out.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit ticks all the boxes for an action movie. Car chases, guns, and bombs should leave fans of this particular genre satisfied – just don’t expect to see them as much as you would in a Bond and Bourne film. About two-thirds of this movie is dedicated to showing the audience the more human side of Ryan, rather than the ‘action man’ side.
Unfortunately the same time and effort wasn’t put into Cherevin. He is a villain that will not stick in your memory for long after the closing credits. His opening scene sees him kick a man that had upset him. So yes, it’s made obvious he’s not a nice guy… but he doesn’t exactly send a shiver down your spine.
Jack Ryan is ultimately not the action star I was hoping for. But he more than warms us up for the explosive films such as X-Men, Godzilla, Spider Man and Captain America – all out this summer.
Catch Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (and much more) now at Showcase, Peterborough. For show times visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk and follow them on Twitter
Mikey Clarke
Genres: Action and Adventure
Cast: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner & Kenneth Branagh
Running Time: 105mins
Director: Kenneth Branagh
See it if you liked: Patriot Games &The Sum of all Fears
[youtube id=”K9KAnx4EvaE” width=”600″ height=”350″]
Comments