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Laramie Movie Scope:
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Close, but not quite Clancy

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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January 18, 2014 -- This latest movie based on the Tom Clancy spy-hero Jack Ryan is not quite up to the usual Clancy standards, set in “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games,” “Clear and Present Danger” and “The Sum of all Fears.” Clancy died last year. This film is not based on any of his novels, but rather is based on the character of Ryan, previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford (twice) and Ben Affleck in those earlier films, respectively.

This time around, Chris Pine (“Unstoppable”) plays Jack Ryan. The story starts in 2001, but most of it takes place in the present time. After the 9/11 attacks, Ryan drops out of college to join the U.S. Marines. While recovering from his wounds from a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, he is recruited into the CIA by the shadowy Thomas Harper (Kevin Kostner of “The Upside of Anger”). Now, he is working undercover on Wall Street, looking for sources of funding supporting terrorism.

The early Clancy novels featuring Jack Ryan took place during the Cold War in the early 1980s. After the Cold War ended, most of the motivations for those stories ended. This story goes back to Russia for inspiration. The old enemy, the Soviet Union, is gone, but the current Russian government isn't friendly. The villain in this story is a Russian businessman, Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh of “My Week With Marilyn”) who hates the United States, and has a plan to wreck its economy in a kind of financial war with the tacit approval of at least some part of the Russian government.

With a combination terror attack on Wall Street and the sale of massive amounts of government debt at the same time, the plan is to bury the U.S. economy in a depression. The plan would hurt Russia, too, but it would recover faster than either the U.S. or China. This plan doesn't hold up under scrutiny because its premises are faulty, but it may work well enough for general audiences. Technical mistakes of this magnitude would not be found in a Clancy novel.

In his early days with the CIA, working undercover on Wall Street, Ryan is an analyst, but that changes when he goes to Russia to identify some shady financial dealings by Cherevin. He is attacked in his hotel room as soon as he gets to Russia and is in constant danger from then on. His girlfriend, Dr. Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley of “Anna Karenina” shows up unexpectedly in Moscow and promptly becomes a damsel in distress.

That isn't quite the climax of the story, though. Ryan ends up in downtown New York City trying to find a hidden bomb. There are shootouts, car chases, fist fights, all kinds of action. This film may not have Clancy smarts and know-how, but it does have some Clancy-style action.

The acting is solid by the main characters with good supporting work by Colm Feore of “Thor,” who plays Ryan's cover job boss, Rob Behringer, and by Alec Utgoff (“The Tourist”) who is downright scary as a deadly spy on a sabotage mission in the U.S. Feore, by the way, played a villain in the 2002 Clancy adaptation, “The Sum of All Fears.”

This turns out to be a conventional Hollywood spy action film, but Chris Pine shows he is up to the mark as Jack Ryan. Now, if they can just find a smarter script next time ... this film rates a C+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2014 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)