Jack Steadman vs. Jack Ryan

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Director: Kenneth Branagh Writers: Adam Cozad, David Koepp, Tom Clancy (characters) Starring: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh Runtime: 105 minutes Certification: 12A

The latest entry in the Jack Ryan franchise (a character who shares with James Bond and The Doctor the habit of being played by multiple different actors with varying degrees of respect for previous iterations) punches the big red ‘reboot’ button – for the second time, with The Sum of All Fears taking the same road over a decade ago, only this time it doesn’t even bother to use one of Tom Clancy’s many novels as inspiration. Nope, for the second reboot in a row (which should really be telling Hollywood something, but whatever – money talks, and The Sum of All Fears made a lot of it), we’re treated to a brand spanking new, original story. Oh, how I wish they’d used one of the books. There’s little point in beating around the bush, and Shadow Recruit certainly doesn’t, so here goes: the story here is terrible. There are almost no redeeming features. It’s dull, it’s uninspired, it’s so patently predictable and by-the-numbers it’s just (painfully) funny. The script features some of the most painfully on-the-nose dialogue since pretty much forever. The opening line, the opening line, I tell you, comes from a student who says, quite simply: “You’re American, aren’t you? I’m sorry, mate.” HE’S TALKING ABOUT 9/11. I MEAN SERIOUSLY, COME ON. WHO LET THAT ONE THROUGH? It’s certainly no “As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster”, is it? No, it is not. But I digress, and I digress thoroughly and in block capitals. The script’s terrible, let’s just leave it there. Or not – one last jab. It tries so hard to be cool, to be the kind of breezy, effortlessly suave film that it probably should be, but the one liners are forced and the characterisation is thinner than a slice of Sainsbury’s basics processed ham (for those of you fortunate enough to be able to afford ‘actual’ ham, that’s thin). Everything about the first half of the film screams ‘I am terrible’. It feels almost impossible to care about any of the characters. The first bout of violence does at least seem to be given some form of consequences in terms of its impact on Ryan, but after a couple of scenes of addressing this (extremely bluntly) that’s it, it’s done. And even then that glimmer of something deeper gets wiped out by the fact the choppy editing almost makes the fight unwatchable. The sole redeeming feature is that it’s bad enough to be funny, not just bad enough to be bad. So you can at least laugh at how terrible it is. And yet, after that first half, somehow, Shadow Recruit redeems itself. The story remains utterly appalling, but by that point, if you’ve got any sense, you’ve stopped caring. Fortunately, so do the writers. The far too wordy setup gives way to the payoff, and it’s almost worth it. A restaurant scene that mixes in with Ryan breaking into the baddie’s headquarters is nicely tense and almost engaging, before the action finally kicks off. And with your brain firmly in ‘whatever, I don’t even care anymore’ mode, it’s actually pretty fun. The sins of the past hour fade away, and the kicks of decent tension manipulation (even if this is obviously a film where the hero always wins) and neatly-handled action take over. It’s nothing spectacular, and it certainly won’t win any awards, but it works. It does exactly what it’s meant to and nothing more. The real saving grace for the film comes from Chris Pine’s earnest performance. He doesn’t quite own the role, not like Harrison Ford did, but there’s room for growth, and with a better script the franchise might actually take off again. Kevin Costner’s a complete badass, of course, but he’s let down by an otherwise boring role, as is pretty much everyone else. Keira Knightley gets completely shafted with hers, while Kenneth Branagh’s villain just isn’t scary. His motivation feels somewhat lacklustre (side effect of that damned script), and his plan… whatever. I gave up at that point. It’s rubbish, is the long and short of it. The direction is competent (which is a pity – Branagh passed on Thor 2 for this, and it really feels like a missed opportunity on that front), the soundtrack is generic and the visuals are… functional, so calling Shadow Recruit somehow greater than the sum of its parts isn’t saying much. But it is, it really is. It relies far too heavily on you possessing the dual ability of laughing at terrible films and then switching off into a mindless popcorn entertainment mode, but if you do have that capacity, then it’s decent, and worth a watch if you have two hours to waste and haven’t seen The Wolf of Wall Street or Inside Llewyn Davis (or pretty much any other big film on at the cinema) yet. I really wish I could pay it higher praise than that. A decent action flick let down by a terrible script.