Mike's Review: For not really following the the Jack Ryan novels, I didn't know what to expect from this movie. I knew I liked all the previous Jack Ryan inspired movies, The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Clear and Present Danger (1994) and The Sum of All Fears (2002).
This movie seemed like it was the prequel to all of those, and it didn't disappoint. I would say this one was just as good as any of the other Jack Ryan movies and if Chris Pine stayed on for another one I would say it would be in league with the Jason Bourne movies. The action seemed real and very plausible which made this movie seem more down to Earth and believable. If anything I would have added another 10 to 15 minutes to the movie for more detail to the back story of Jack Ryan.
Best Scene: The car chase scene.
Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the ticket.
Bean's Review: The beginning of the Jack Ryan saga. Chris Pine, as Jack Ryan was an excellent choice. This is my first experience
with seeing Pine, and he is a very
engaging actor. I also enjoyed watching Kevin Costner, as in a lot of his movies, you are not sure if he is
a good or bad guy, so you are left hanging until the end. Kenneth Branagh was quite convincing as
the truly bad guy.
Pine is better than Affleck,
however, Harrison Ford will be a
tough act to follow. Alec Baldwin is
mostly forgettable, as Sean Connery was the star in that film.
The action scenes had you
holding your breath, especially Ryan’s
chase to catch Branagh’s character
after kidnapping Keira Knightley’s
character.
Overall very entertaining
movie that definitely kept your attention.
Best Scene: Costner’s
character meeting with Ryan in the
park with the golden retriever.
Bean's Rating: Full price ticket.
A.C.'s Review: Released
many years after The Sum Of All Fears
we find the latest Tom Clancy movie
featuring a new actor playing Jack Ryan
taking over from Ben Affleck. Known
to Star Trek fans as Captain Kirk, Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness) has now assumed
the role of Ryan. Apparently Pine is now the go to guy for rebooting
old franchises.
This movie
is an origin story for the character which is something we haven’t seen before.
What works perfectly is that in the opening we see him inspired by 9/11 to join
the Marines where his promising
career is cut short after insurgents shoot down his helicopter in Afghanistan.
In short order he meets his future fiancé and a CIA spook who recruits him
into the fold. It really works using 9/11 as the jumping off point for the
movie.
What
doesn’t work quite as well is frankly Russian bad guys. This shows the Clancy series has its roots in the Cold
War which has long been over. Since they were updating things it would
have been better to use the North Koreans
as the bad guys because frankly the economic meltdown plot is the only
way a country like that could take down America and it would make more sense.
But we’d lose Kenneth Brannagh as the
villain who did an excellent job in the role.
I’ve
always been luke warm on the Ryan
franchise but I would defiantly watch another one with Chris Pine continuing the adventures.
Best Scene: Ryan fighting a bad guy in a
hotel bathroom.
A.C.'s Rating: Worth a matinee.
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