Back in 2009 actor Chris Pine seemed to come out of nowhere and managed to take over -quite well!- the extremely familiar role of Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek.  While in the end I didn’t like either new Star Trek features all that much and for varying reasons, the cast was certainly not one of them.  All the actors, and especially lead actor Mr. Pine, stepped into some mighty big shoes and did a good job with these familiar roles.

Unfortunately, following taking on and impressing audiences with his role as Captain Kirk, it seemed most of Mr. Pine’s other lead roles fizzled, both at the box office and in terms of critical reaction.  I haven’t seen all of the films he’s been in since the first Star Trek, but of the two I have seen Unstoppable was a decent enough -though not spectacular- actioner, and This Means War was a pleasant enough romantic comedy…provided you put your mind in neutral.  With regards to This Means War, I seem to be in a very small minority indeed!

Of all the non-Star Trek movies he’s been involved in, the one that audiences probably anticipated the most was 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.  Based on the well known Tom Clancy character (but not on any of the Tom Clancy novels), the role had previously been played by such well known actors as Alec Baldwin (the first to take on the Jack Ryan role in The Hunt For Red October), Harrison Ford (perhaps the most famous Jack Ryan, he appeared in two films featuring the character), and Ben Affleck.

So once again Mr. Pine steps into some mighty big shoes.

How did his work compare to the others on this list?

Well enough, I suppose.  Ultimately Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit turned out to be a bust, for me, because of the silly story we’re being told.

To begin, this film clearly is trying to fall into the Bourne/James Bond niche rather than the previous Ryan-centric films.  Chris Pine’s Jack Ryan is young, relatively inexperienced, but willing to give it the college try.

We have a brief “origin” story about him, then see how he’s recruited by the CIA to work in Wall Street and watch for any signs of terrorist activity via money transfers.  Quickly enough, he finds just such evidence in the form of multiple hidden accounts of a Russian Oligarch (director Kenneth Branagh pulls double duties as the villain of this piece).

His recruiter (Kevin Costner, nicely playing the old vet), decides Ryan needs to immediately go to Moscow to get a closer look at the Oligarch and sniff around his bank accounts.  This leads to some trouble as Ryan’s girlfriend (Keira Knightley in a role that maybe should have been thought through by the writers a little bit more), who is unaware he works for the CIA, wonders if he may be *gasp* cheating on him.

Much hilarity follows.

Actually, no…it does not.

Seriously, the whole “girlfriend who doesn’t know her man is secretly in the CIA” is such an odd bit that I wondered if somewhere down the line this script might have originally been a comedy.  Knightley’s character winds up -surprise!- showing up in Moscow and because of her awkward timing is forced to join Ryan at a tense dinner with our villain.  The dinner ends with Ryan stealing some vital information and this, in turn, leads to action action action and Knightley’s character in grave danger.

I think it was at about this point that the film really started to turn me off.  Don’t get me wrong, the acting is decent enough, the location work and cinematography well done, and the editing and direction is good.

But that story…

The script/story keeps putting Chris Pine’s Ryan squarely in the middle of each action sequence and it becomes too preposterous.  By the time we reach the film’s climax, we’re in the middle of New York on red alert.  There’s a literal army of police, military, and security officers, yet Ryan alone winds up figuring out where the threat is and takes it down single-handedly.

All while we know he’s an “analyst” and not a “trained” field operative!

In the end, I cannot recommend Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.  Though the mechanics (ie acting, directing, etc.) of the film are solid enough, the movie is done in by a ridiculous story.

Too bad.

While watching the above trailer, there are a couple of things that happen on it that I don’t recall seeing in the film itself.  First is the blowing up helicopter.  I recall a helicopter attack early in the film, but not a helicopter blowing up so completely.  Second, there is one shot of a city at night with a high floor in one building blowing up.  Again, don’t recall that scene in the film itself.

Looks like the film underwent some work after the fact!