There was something inherently exciting about the notion of Shakespearean icon Kenneth Branagh getting behind the camera for a Jack Ryan reboot, even if the world wasn't all that bothered about seeing the character - embodied previously by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck on the begin screen - in another motion picture. The annoying thing about Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, however (aside from that irritating subtitle), stems from the fact that it's very nearly a good action movie... it just settles to be highly generic in almost every way. So whereas Chris Pine does a somewhat serviceable job as the eponymous spy of the title (he's not very memorable, though), the movie itself mostly feels like its treading water - not narratively, exactly, but in its thematic approach to rebooting this franchise. Ryan goes up against a Russian baddie (played by Kenneth Branagh, of course), and it all feels very been there, done that from opening credits to end titles. "This is the very definition of an OK thriller," said critic Richard Roeper in his own review. There's really no better way to say it.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
