Why do audiences keep lining up for the lazy, Hollywood bullshit known as a “reboot?” Are people really that happy to line the pockets of moguls who obviously don’t give a damn about offering them content that hasn’t been re-gifted? In the past decade or so, we’ve had reboots of Batman, Spiderman, Superman, James Bond and Star Trek. 2014 is especially egregious for this nonsense, with upcoming do-overs on RoboCop (neutered to a PG-13) and Left Behind (which does God knows what with Nicolas Cage). So it’s only fitting that the first major star-studded release of 2014 is Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a reboot of a series whose last installment was itself a reboot. 2002’s Sum of All Fears attempted to remake Tom Clancy’s franchise character, who had been previously played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford, into the much younger Ben Affleck. It was not as successful as prior installments because audiences didn’t want to see a movie that evoked 9/11 so soon after 9/11. Those who did go (myself included) could not suspend their disbelief long enough to buy Affleck’s Jack Ryan.
I bring this up because Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit has a lot in common with The Sum of All Fears. It has a villain with an accent so comical that it’s stupendously enjoyable, a tie to 9/11 and an action lead you won’t buy for 30 seconds. Chris Pine is no Ben Affleck (interpret that however you wish), but he’s also no Harrison Ford, the most successful Ryan of the four. Pine has the dramatic angles well-covered, but in the action sequences, he’s less than convincing. He’s a great Bruce Wayne, but a lousy Batman.
After seeing the carnage of 9/11 on a TV at his university, Ryan drops out and joins the armed forces. After a shockingly inept rendering of a helicopter accident, Ryan must learn to walk again. Motivated by his therapist, Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley, looking quite fetching with dark hair), Ryan not only regains full mobility, he gets the girl and a job offer from future mentor CIA agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner, who should just play wise mentors from now on).
Harper’s job offer involves Ryan using brain, not brawn, to track terrorist monetary activity. He conducts secret meetings at NYC’s famous Film Forum, whose notoriously cramped interior has mysteriously morphed into a stadium seating auditorium. Since he cannot tell Cathy the exact details of his job, she thinks his secrecy hides more sinister intentions. When Harper sends Ryan to Moscow on a dangerous mission, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit dusts off the creaky cliché of having Cathy show up in Moscow unannounced. Finding Ryan’s gun, Cathy forces an explanation from her boyfriend.
“I’m in the CIA,” he tells her.
“Oh,” she says, breathing a sigh of relief. “I thought you were having an affair!”
This is the kind of cornball goofiness that almost saves Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Director Kenneth Branagh, despite all the hyper-edited, pseudo-Paul Greengrass action sequences required by today’s audiences, sneaks in elements of Cold War-era espionage thrillers. These add a quaint, enjoyable charm to the proceedings, and Branagh saves most of them for himself.
Playing the villain on both sides of the camera, Branagh’s Russian baddie, Victor Cheverin, gets the kind of entrance actors salivate over. Shot from behind, Cheverin mercilessly beats a male nurse whose attempts at intravenous injection fuel Victor’s anger. After the poor victim is dragged from the room, Branagh’s camera focuses on his heavily tattooed arm as he finishes the needle himself. Then the camera pans up to reveal Victor’s sneering face, as if the director were saying “I’m Kenneth Branagh, BITCH!!!”
When Cheverin speaks, his riotously overdone Russian accent is enough to make Sir Larry Olivier leap from the grave and applaud. That voice plays a key role in the best scene in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Cheverin invites Jack and Cathy to dinner, which Ryan accepts in order to break into Cheverin’s office. Cathy poses as the sexy distraction when Ryan excuses himself. The chemistry between Cathy and Cheverin as they chat is far more intriguing than the tension attempted by cross-cutting between the conversation and the break-in. I didn’t care what Ryan was doing; Knightley and Branagh evoke a Sydney Pollack movie vibe that’s way too short-lived.
Knightley’s dramatic scenes with Pine are also well done–they spark together. But when Pine gets into trouble, and must defend himself, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit falls apart. I’m not saying Pine is a wimp or anything like that, but I mumbled “Get the eff outta here” more than once, most noticeably in the sequence shown in the ads for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Ryan takes on a gigantic Ugandian man, who shoots at Ryan before engaging him in hand to hand combat. All this guy has to do is sit on Ryan and he’ll die. Instead, we’re treated to feats of strength by Ryan that defy the laws of physics. It’s supposed to be a brutal fight, with cringe-inducing shots of human heads hitting sinks, tubs and toilets, but I couldn’t stop snickering.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is the first movie not based on a book by the late Tom Clancy. Screenwriters Adam Cozad and David Koepp craft an origin story mostly from thin air, and it’s less compelling than Clancy’s own take on his character’s beginnings. The story they construct could feature any Joe Schmo spy off the street. This is as un-Clancy as Jack Ryan has ever been.
I don’t know why every movie character needs an origin story nowadays. They make for lousy movies, but if they make enough money, there’s usually a better second installment. I don’t see this film being a huge hit, and considering its release date in the bad movie graveyard of January, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a second turn for Pine. Don’t cry for him, though. He’ll always have Star Trek.
One thought on “‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’: Hollywood Hoopla”
At this point, he’d probably rather have Jack Ryan than Star Trek.