Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) Movie Review

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

I've got to admit. Even for a Tom Clancy film, this is down right generic. But that doesn't mean it's bad right? 

After he recovers from a fatal war injury, Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is approached by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) who offers him a chance to get back in the game. Eagerly accepting his offer, Jack is officially deemed as being a CIA analyst, though when things get out of hand fast, Jack is forced to work the front lines as a full-blown CIA agent. Now a full agent, Jack must stop a potential threat in the form of Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh). Now let's address the elephant in the room, yes this does sound extremely cliché. And while it is clearly apparent, that does not mean the premise is terrible. In fact, towards the end of the plot, I was genuinely surprised by the turn it went and although the turn may have been a disappointment to me, it was still a shock nonetheless. Overall the plot, while generic, was good enough to keep the film on it's feet through the entire runtime...well..almost. 

 Still of Chris Pine and Kevin Costner(left to right)

Now that that's done, let's get back onto the generic formula of the film. Bad guys are doing stuff to America, America has to go over there and take them down from the inside. While this formula has been done to death about 1000 times before, you know the old saying. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And that's one of the reasons behind this films quality is the fact that it's more or less impossible to screw up. Too be completely honest, if this film had of been god awful, I would have called this a terrible and disgrace of a movie. Though if it was a different kind of film, like for example, a romantic comedy, I would say it's the same stuff we have seen. This means because of the simple fact that this kind of film has been done with different actors and a different director, I can't say anything negative regarding the film. However, one negative I can say about the film is the fact that at the start of the film, it begins picking up which obviously is a good thing. And then suddenly, in the middle of the film, it suddenly decreases in intensity and becomes an incredibly boring "action" film. While this didn't stick with the film all the way to the end, I can easily say that the parts when it was boring were my least liked parts of the film. However, these boring parts were made watch-able due to the wide variety of performances given throughout the movie.

Still of Keira Knightley and Kenneth Branagh
(left to right)

As for the acting, I felt it was the biggest thing this film had going for it. If it wasn't for the performances given, I would have said they were simply generic and bad. Let us start with our main protagonist in the film, Chris Pine and too be honest, I found him the least interesting and the most generic out of them all. For a character that almost dies is more or less paralysed for a long period of time, it would make sense to make him the most interesting. Though thankfully, this character is made up by the next two actors, Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Costner. As for Branagh, I felt he played his part up spectacularly. Since he is actually the director of the film, it does make sense for his character in particular to be the most interesting, which he is. This guy is the kind of character that shows intimidation and utter anger in a very sophisticated and classy way, which I always like in an antagonist. As for Costner's character, I felt he was particularly interesting as the plot doesn't give you any background behind him besides his ranking in the CIA. Though the main reason I loved this character was because of Costner's performance as although people may disagree with me, but I believe Kevin Costner is still one of the best actors in Hollywood. Every role he puts himself into he brings such realism and charisma to just makes it a pleasure to watch him on screen. As for Keira Knightley's character.....I mean...she was just generic and could have been replaced by anyone, so moving on. Overall, the performances given were strong and managed to surpass other movie's like it.

Still of Kevin Costner lining up his shot

Overall, I'm not sure what else I can say. This film while good, was just so generic and sometimes a little too complicated. However, since I can't go against my own quote, I have to say that this film is actually worth watching. Even though you've probably seen it in a different form. 

OVERALL: 7.0/10