Director Kenneth Branagh
Staring Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh
Rated M
Score 3.5/6

Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

On the face of it the Jack Ryan film franchise might appear to be broken, considering that with what could only be described as a series reboot this is the second attempt by filmmakers to breathe new life into the franchise. With the Global Financial Crisis still very fresh in our memories it was a good move by the filmmakers to use a plot to topple the U.S economy as the catalyst for the entire movie. No matter how intriguing the idea of global economic terrorism Shadow Recruit really does not stand up to any of the other previous movies, it was almost as if the filmmakers never really
put the hammer down. Now if you were to take the two most recent actors to play Jack Ryan I think Affleck did the better job. Though I suppose the questions are, will there be a sequel? Will Chris Pine reprise his role as Jack Ryan and Is the Jack Ryan Franchise trying to be positioned as the American answer to James Bond?
I was very impressed by Kenneth Branagh’s performance and how the introduction of his character made him seem to be very ruthless.