Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

This week, director Kenneth Branagh's installment in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," hits Blu-ray and DVD with somewhat lackluster results. The film boasts an all-star cast but just never seems to pay off with any real tension.

Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is a brilliant young man with everything going for him: beautiful fiancée, amazing job and a dangerous secret. Jack secretly works for the CIA, and while working undercover, he discovers some very unusual financial activity from a Russian company. Ryan is then sent to Moscow to investigate and the company and, while there, a failed attempt on his life leads Jack straight to a Russian plot to crash the U.S. stock market. Now Jack must use every ounce of his training to stop a terrorist attack on American soil and prevent our economy from crashing down around us.

With studios constantly on the search for the newest franchise, it's no surprise Jack Ryan would once again grace the big screen with new go-to actor Pine. The only problem is that Jack's reemergence doesn't quite offer the same amount of explosions and thrills that many other franchises do; and the blame has to be largely placed on screenwriter David Koepp.

"Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" boasts an all-star cast, and every single person delivers on their performances. Pine is great as Ryan, a very intelligent, albeit very inexperienced, field agent. He doesn't quite have the bravado of say, his British counterpart, but his character is never meant to possess that demeanor. Kevin Costner is tragically underused in his role as Jack's mentor, Thomas Harper. What could have been a fantastic role was diminished to someone standing in the shadows and speaking in code. Branagh deserves huge applause for pulling double duty by also co-starring and completely blowing it out of the water. His cold and calculating Viktor Cherevin is terrifying but, again, underused.

Branagh's direction is pretty spot-on as well. The action pieces are nicely orchestrated and the few fight scenes we're given are taut and tense. Branagh is definitely in his wheelhouse when it comes to the more dramatic scenes. He pulls strong performances from his stars. It's just unfortunate that Koepp doesn't give the director more to work with.

While we're told that the U.S. is in grave danger if Jack doesn't stop the imminent terror attack, viewers never truly feel any real danger. There's nothing to keep you on the edge of your seat, so you're likely to lean back and fall asleep.

"Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" never quite lives up to its potential, so in the end, the film feels like a cheap plot transcended by a large budget and A-list cast. If you're looking for a movie to past the time, "Shadow Recruit" will do just that. I would just keep expectations very low.

The Blu-ray release contains multiple special features that include deleted and extended scenes, "Jack Ryan: The Smartest Guy in the Room," "Sir Kenneth Branagh: The Tsar of Shadow Recruit" and many more.

Film: 3 Yaps Extras: 2.5 Yaps