Movie · 2014 · Action, Drama, Thriller · 1h 45m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.7/10 (145.6K ratings)
Trust no one.
Overview
Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.7/10
IMDb: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 55%
Metacritic: 57
TMDB: 6.1/10
Director
Kenneth Branagh
Production
di Bonaventura Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, Buckaroo Entertainment, Skydance Media
Cast
Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh, Lenn Kudrjawizki, Colm Feore, Gemma Chan, Alec Utgoff, Peter Andersson, Nonso Anozie, Aleksandar Aleksiev, Deborah Rosan, Price Lindsey, Celine Jedidi, Ricky Rajpal, Karen David, David Paymer, David Hayman, Amy J. Kim, Bogdan Kominowski
Where to watch
Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential
Curator Review
Verdict
A serviceable, often overly familiar spy thriller with a few strong performances and a decent first half, but it rarely rises above generic franchise mechanics. The best material is the quieter tradecraft-and-recruitment setup; once it turns into a bigger action conspiracy, it becomes less distinctive.
Best for
viewers who like polished but lightweight espionage thrillers
fans of Chris Pine or Kenneth Branagh
people who enjoy the early-recruitment phase of spy movies more than the action climax
audiences looking for an undemanding studio thriller
Skip if
you want a fresh or twisty spy plot
you dislike formulaic reboot energy
you need memorable action set pieces
you prefer grounded intelligence dramas over broad blockbuster plotting
Overview
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is most interesting when it behaves like a modest espionage procedural: a young analyst in over his head, a handler who knows more than he says, and a relationship that has to survive secrecy. That material gives the film a little tension and a surprisingly human center, helped by Chris Pine’s likability and Kenneth Branagh’s oddly committed villain turn.
Worth noting
The problem is that the movie keeps reaching for a bigger, more conventional thriller shape and loses some of its identity in the process. It feels assembled from familiar spy-movie parts, and the plot mechanics are often more functional than exciting. Even so, it’s not a disaster; it’s just the kind of mid-tier studio thriller that plays better in the moment than in memory.
Bottom line
If you like clean, professional genre filmmaking and don’t mind predictability, there’s enough here to keep you engaged. If you’re hoping for the sharp paranoia of the best Tom Clancy adaptations, this lands well short of that standard.
Top Letterboxd reviews
matt lynch (1.5★) · 341 likes
Tuesdays this Fall on CBS!
𝚮𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖊 🙏🏻 (3.5★) · 231 likes
Another entry in "Kenneth Branagh's hilarious Russian accents" and "Kevin Costner delivers exposition from park benches" cinematic universes.
David Sims (2★) · 163 likes
Kenneth Branagh is annoyingly good in this. The scene where he talks to Keira Knightley about Lermontov and regret is quite something. I was rooting for him the whole time.
Why do studios insist on making Chris Pine, a very charismatic actor, as boring as possible in every movie he's in that's not Star Trek? Why does Keira Knightley do an American accent in this that sounds like her dialect coach was the Lumpy Space Princess? Why did I see this opening weekend? What was I expecting? Much like The Sum Of All Fears, I won't remember anything in a week.
Ryan Francis (2.5★) · 122 likes
I found this to be pretty goddamn average in almost every way possible. What makes it even more disappointing is the potential it had, considering a lot of the talent involved. Still enjoyable nonetheless, and I have yet to not enjoy seeing Chris Pine in something.
Matt Singer (2★) · 93 likes
Sort of liked where this was going in the early scenes, and found the chemistry between Chris Pine and Keira Knightley surprisingly agreeable (big ups to Knightley's dialect coach; for the first time ever, I bought her American accent). But this picks up *too* much steam as it goes along; it starts off as a stripped-down movie about tradecraft, following a guy (Pine) who’s way out of his depth as he accidentally uncovers a major Russian plot to destroy the… more Sort of liked where this was going in the early scenes, and found the chemistry between Chris Pine and Keira Knightley surprisingly agreeable (big ups to Knightley's dialect coach; for the first time ever, I bought her American accent). But this picks up *too* much steam as it goes along; it starts off as a stripped-down movie about tradecraft, following a guy (Pine) who’s way out of his depth as he accidentally uncovers a major Russian plot to destroy the… more
1998 · Action, Drama, Thriller · 2h 12m · R · Curator 4.8/10 (392.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A fast-moving conspiracy thriller that turns surveillance and state power into genuine suspense.