Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2014)
Shadow Recruit (originally Shadow One) is the first Jack Ryan film that is not directly based on a novel by Tom Clancy, and was released after Clancy’s death. Gone are the technicals of government spy tactics, the steely organization, and the daring postulation that made Jack Ryan such a good analyst. In their place are very, very usual action movie tropes about a determined young hotshot who wants to prove himself. Although in the more modern action hero ethos, our hero must also be tortured, so we have a few scenes of him brooding.
To digress for a moment: I kind of hate the new “tortured” approach to action heroes. James Bond, Batman, Superman, and just about everyone else who could be described as a hero now has to wrestle with the real-world consequences of their vigilante status. I’m all for the moral examination of a vigilante, and that worked well in a film like Batman Begins, but I think both audiences and filmmakers need to realize how backward it is to add such superficial existential “depth” to fantasy heroes. Fantasy action heroes are always more effective when they have clearer moral codes. When they are both capable and resolute. The appeal of James Bond has nothing to do with how he became the way he is, or what he thinks of his job. The appeal of James Bond is his utter and implacable ease. How much fun he has. The appeal of Superman is how easily it is for him to save people, and how easily he came to conclusion that saving people is good. But giving these characters existential struggles, you’re techncially giving them depth from a screenwriting perspective, but you’re losing sight of the essence of heroism. And I think bold, fun action heroes are far more interesting and exhilarating than the teen angst version we’ve been getting.
Not that Jack Ryan is a terrifically important pop culture figure, especially not when compared to Superman and James Bond. But he did have a certain appeal that has now been – like Superman and James Bond before him – turned into Batman’s angst-fest.
So what is the story? Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) – after a dull 20-minute introduction – is asked by the CIA-spook Greer character (now named Harper, and played by a stern Kevin Costner) to investigate the malfeasance of a Russian baddie named Cheverin (Kenneth Branagh) who intends to wipe out the U.S. economy, but only after staging a bombing. There are chases and fights and they’re all boring. No action set pieces or sneaks stand out. Shadow Recruit is, in many ways, a standard definition of “forgettable.” The only actor who is having any fun and who has any personality is Branagh himself, who almost seems to be in another movie altogether. He chews scenery, sneers, and kicks a guy several times in his first scene. I feel that Branagh was using his own movie as an audition for the next Bond movie. Branagh would make a good Bond villain.
Shadow Recruit was panned by critics last week, and has only made about $23 million dollars to date on a reported budget of about 60. I think this means Jack Ryan is now officially dead. Shadow Recruit may be the last we ever see of this character. Which is fine, if they intended Chris Pine’s continuity to be the lead of a new franchise. If there is another Jack Ryan film in the future, it will have to be yet another reboot, and I don’t think anyone will be in the market for such a thing for many years to come. In all respects, Shadow Recruit is the least of the series. It was enough to kill everything.
