Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

	Also Known As: The Jack Ryan Initiative (French)
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Kenneth Branagh (Frankenstein, Hamlet, Thor)
	Actors: Chris Pine (Star Trek 1-2, This Means War), Kevin Costner (Dance with the Wolves), Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3), Kenneth Branagh (Wild Wild West, Valkyrie)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 22.09.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After his helicopter accident in Afghanistan, the young analyst Jack Ryan (Pine) is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate a Wall Street Bank.
Review: This is the new reboot to the Jack Ryan franchise (based on the novels by Tom Clancy), the previous one being The Sum of all Fears (2002), and the three original movies in the series: The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994). I may soon watch the two latter (with Harrison Ford) to complete my knowledge of the series. I am not a big fan of Chris Pine as an actor, but I found this time he overplayed less than usual. The same actually goes for Keira Knightley whom I found changed since the Pirates of the Caribbean series, more subtle in her play. Kevin Costner is so experienced that he acts completely naturally, and I found Kenneth Branagh particularly good, conveying a lot of meaning with just one stare (in particular at the point when he realizes he has been played), this quality maybe coming from his theatrical background. The story starts well by establishing the character of Jack Ryan through the accident that made him fearful of helicopters throughout all of his future adventures. The bad guys and the stakes are also described slowly enough to be intriguing, and the tension is maintained until about 30 minute from the end. At that point, loopholes appear in the story and the rhythm accelerates frenetically, as if this would increase the tension, and maybe trying to copy The Sum of all Fears but the expected effect is not met and on the contrary the action become completely unbelievable and confused. That is really a pity for a movie that could have been not as good as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, but at least good. Funny that the English title copies the one of the Tom Cruise movie, while the French title looks more like the one of a Jason Bourne movie. This Jack Ryan is better than the most recent spy movie I have seen (The November Man), but probably still the worst of the five of the series.
Rating: 4 /10