In the wake of Tom Clancy’s recent death, a legacy piece is due to appear in the long-awaited latest installment of the Jack Ryan series. Unfortunately, some might say, Clancy’s material has been snapped up by the current tsunami of gritty Hollywood reboots. Rather than a continuation of the series, featuring Harrison Ford – who played Ryan in two previous films – the return of Alec Baldwin, or even a follow-up to the previous prequel that saw Ryan played by Ben Affleck, the new film, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a second prequel, returning again to Ryan’s early days as a low-level CIA newbie. This is a film with commercial potential and, indeed, market-minded writing and production, which may well deliver and give us another Bourne-style heavy-hitter. For fans of the previous films and of Clancy’s long-running cast of characters, however, things don’t look too promising.
So, to the trailer. Straight off the bat, this is an action film. The teaser begins with a young Ryan, now played by Chris Pine, in a chaotic fist-and-bullet fight with a nasty adversary. This is the first good sign for those awaiting something on the scale of the aforementioned Bourne films – which the studio is presumably trying to emulate – and the first red flag for old-school Clancy fans. No longer the analyst, reluctant spook, academic observer and family man, Ryan is now a fully-fledged CIA agent in the midst of a baptism of fire. There are a few references to his canon backstory, thanks to Kevin Costner’s dialogue: “I don’t have your PhD,” “you’re not an analyst anymore, you’re operational now” etc. His fiancee is here, now played by Kiera Knightley, and looks poised to end up with more screen time and more involvement than her previous incarnations. Even so, Ryan quickly has a gun in his hands and a shower of glass flying over his head every few seconds.
So, to the trailer. Straight off the bat, this is an action film. The teaser begins with a young Ryan, now played by Chris Pine, in a chaotic fist-and-bullet fight with a nasty adversary. This is the first good sign for those awaiting something on the scale of the aforementioned Bourne films – which the studio is presumably trying to emulate – and the first red flag for old-school Clancy fans. No longer the analyst, reluctant spook, academic observer and family man, Ryan is now a fully-fledged CIA agent in the midst of a baptism of fire. There are a few references to his canon backstory, thanks to Kevin Costner’s dialogue: “I don’t have your PhD,” “you’re not an analyst anymore, you’re operational now” etc. His fiancee is here, now played by Kiera Knightley, and looks poised to end up with more screen time and more involvement than her previous incarnations. Even so, Ryan quickly has a gun in his hands and a shower of glass flying over his head every few seconds.
More than likely, this will be intended as another series reboot. This was tried once before with Affleck’s The Sum of All Fears, which reportedly didn’t make enough money to spawn a sequel and get a revamped series going. This time, the franchise is in the hands of director Kenneth Brannagh, who enjoyed blockbuster success with Thor and has been entrusted to get Clancy’s floundering character a bigger boost. Unfortunately, however, it seems he may have gone a bit too far.
The film seems to be mostly set in Moscow and New York, with Brannagh himself taking the role of the antagonist – a perhaps outdated Russian mob boss character with a heavy accent and, inevitably, visible tattoos. Even the title, which for some reason includes the character’s name, seems a little strained. It was originally titled Shadow One before being changed to Shadow Recruit, as though it was never that important in the first place. Some might be unpleasantly reminded of Jack Reacher and the disastrous Tyler Perry vehicle Alex Cross.
The action scenes that make up most of the trailer include shootouts, garrotings, car chases and, towards the end, a Die Hard-style stunt that sees Ryan flying off a motorway bridge in the back of a speeding police van. With only this and snippets of dialogue on offer, it’s hard to see where the film is going to go. All that can be said for now is this: it’s loud, it’s big-budget, it’s peppered with big-screen cliches and, if Brannagh and co. have done a good job, it’s going to sell.
It is, however, going to leave many of Clancy’s fans cold. This is part of book-to-film adaptation and even reboot tradition. Hollywood is no place for purists. Even so, it’s almost a shame we’ll never get to see the man himself’s reaction to the finished product.
The film seems to be mostly set in Moscow and New York, with Brannagh himself taking the role of the antagonist – a perhaps outdated Russian mob boss character with a heavy accent and, inevitably, visible tattoos. Even the title, which for some reason includes the character’s name, seems a little strained. It was originally titled Shadow One before being changed to Shadow Recruit, as though it was never that important in the first place. Some might be unpleasantly reminded of Jack Reacher and the disastrous Tyler Perry vehicle Alex Cross.
The action scenes that make up most of the trailer include shootouts, garrotings, car chases and, towards the end, a Die Hard-style stunt that sees Ryan flying off a motorway bridge in the back of a speeding police van. With only this and snippets of dialogue on offer, it’s hard to see where the film is going to go. All that can be said for now is this: it’s loud, it’s big-budget, it’s peppered with big-screen cliches and, if Brannagh and co. have done a good job, it’s going to sell.
It is, however, going to leave many of Clancy’s fans cold. This is part of book-to-film adaptation and even reboot tradition. Hollywood is no place for purists. Even so, it’s almost a shame we’ll never get to see the man himself’s reaction to the finished product.
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