Actors: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Lenn Kudrjawizki
Directors: Kenneth Branagh
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Run Time: 105 minutes
Film: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars
The character of Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy’s novels has been played by many very talented actors over the last roughly 25 years from Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. They have all done great with the character…yes even Affleck. Chris Pine, who just revived life into the character of Captain Kirk in the reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise, is hoping to do the same with this character but fails due to an extremely bland and unoriginal story. The film is so generic that you know where every scene it going with little to no surprise around each corner. I guess we will have to wait until they decide to reboot this series yet again or finally put it to sleep.
Official Premise: The thrills are non-stop as CIA recruit Jack Ryan (Chris Pine, “Star Trek” series) is caught in a dangerous web of intrigue and espionage spun between a shadowy government agent (Kevin Costner, “Field of Dreams”), his unsuspecting fiancee (Keira Knightly, “Pirates of the Caribbean” series) and a fearless Russian power broker (Kenneth Branagh, “Thor”). Jack must quickly evolve from soldier to analyst to full-fledged operative to stop a devastating terrorist plot against the United States.
Despite, the painfulness of the film itself, Paramount delivers an phenomonal release. “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” comes as a combo pack with a Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet digital copy. It boasts an outstanding 1080p transfer. The film just looks stunning and very details. The real winner though for this release is easily the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track. It works perfect building the film’s tension and shakes the walls in the action scenes. The score is also highlighted so well and sounds absolutely amazing. Overall, this was very effective and quite unexpected from this film, so I give major kudos.
The special features are quite decent as well. There is a solid and quite engaging audio commentary track from director Kenneth Branagh and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “Jack Ryan: The Smartest Guy in the Room” is an all-around behind-the-scenes look into the film. “Sir Kenneth Branagh: The Tsar of Shadow Recruit” focuses on the director/actor role in the film. “Jack Ryan: A Thinking Man of Action”
looks into several key action sequences. “Old Enemies Return” is a look into the film’s villains in depth. Lastly, there are a five deleted & extended scenes, as well an alternate ending all with optional commentary by Director Kenneth Branagh and Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
