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HOME > QUIPSOGRAPHY > JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT (2014) > PAGE 2 Top marks also go to Kevin Costner's wonderfully measured performance as Ryan's CIA boss and mentor here, and kudos to Kenneth Branagh for bringing a rare depth to what could've easily become a hot mess retro cliché villain in Russian tycoon Viktor Cherevin. As well, this is a great-looking movie, thanks to cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos' crisp lens. Zambarloukos previously helmed the camerawork on Thor (2011), Mamma Mia! (2008), and the early Daniel Craig film, Enduring Love (2004). Vague Bond connections aside, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a fun matinee romp for the most part but it does suffer from a couple of notable missteps. To a lesser degree, whether a fault of Branagh's direction or not, Keira Knightley's role as highly intelligent professional, contemporary American woman Cathy Muller fails miserably. There's no spark of internal monologue flashing behind her eyes, particularly in scenes where Muller's intellect is front and centre. At one point, suspicious of stumbled-upon evidence suggesting Ryan's having an affair, she softly needles him for the truth without any expression other than she's happy to be dating this pretty man. Knightley merely says the smart words of dialogue without bringing anything else. She's boring. It's embarrassing. To a larger degree, this movie's storyline unfortunately wobbles into weird stupidity come the third act. That's when Muller suddenly becomes a useless damsel in distress duct taped in the back of a van, terrified at what nasty business Cherevin threatens to cause using a light bulb he stuffs in her mouth. yeah. An ordinary light bulb. Oh dear. There's a big long monologue explaining the thing about the light bulb. Apparently, it's a prison thing. Who knew? Cherevin slowly chews out the light bulb thing story at Ryan, over the phone as the tycoon’s van careens through the moonlit streets of Moscow towards someplace yet to be determined. Maybe he's heading to an all-hours light bulb store. Ryan's hot on his trail to save Muller from thinking too hard about light bulbs. When Ryan catches up, Cherevin might need another light bulb to fend him off by waving it around or something. Never mind Cherevin's bulky big Russian security goons, riding along with their hairy-knuckled punchin' fists and bullet-stuffed glocks. No no, dispatching them against Ryan is far too passé. Not exotic enough for the Jack Ryan 2.0 generation. Little did Thomas Edison realize when he invented the first incandescent light bulb a hundred and thirty-five years ago, he birthed the mightiest of evil-doing weapons known to, well, nobody. Nobody, except maybe Uncle Fester. And, only if what you mean by 'evil-doing weapon' is 'light bulb'. Sure, the one used here is an energy-saving compact flourescent light bulb, because even tyrannical crime lords bent on economic mayhem and world domination care about saving polar bears and reducing landfill. It's important. But, it's a light bulb! Not even a little bit scary. Not even if, translated into Russian prison slang, the nasty oral business done with the light bulb is called The Uncle Fester. Maybe if Cherevin's mumbly thick explanation had been edited with short flashbacks of him in prison witnessing The Uncle Fester, uh, the crunchy fellatio light bulb thing in action, that entire scene would have hit the right level of threatening intensity. Then again, I'm not really supposed to sit through a movie sidetracked by thinking about how lame scenes could have been better, right? Ah well. Such is the curse of a movie buff's love. Heaps better than initially expected and marking an over-all great starting point for this long-overdue US spy franchise reboot, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit definitely suffers from head-tilting nonsense at times but it's a fun actioner well worth checking out at the matinee for Pine's exceptional performance as the fresh new Jack Ryan. Looking forward to the sequel. Reviewed 01/14, © Stephen Bourne, moviequips.ca Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is
rated PG by the Ontario Film Review Board, citing Use of expletives,
mild sexual references, limited use of slurs, scenes that may
cause a child brief anxiety, or fear, embracing and kissing,
and restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence, and is rated
13+ by la Régie du Cinéma in Québec. REFERENCE: |
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