The success of Prime Video’s Jack Ryan series has warranted a feature-length edition to us and will go straight to the streamer on May 20th in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War. While this is not based on any of the author’s work outside of the character itself, I am also torn on what I actually thought of this one.
To be clear: I have not watched any of the series going into this one, but I was curious to see if it would be one of those instances where that gets me lost in the film itself. Gladly, I can say with about ninety percent confidence that I did not. Granted, there were moments where my brain went “I feel like there is something here I should know about,” but it didn’t weigh me down for an hour and forty minutes (or about two episodes) long.
Ryan (John Krasinski) is living a civilian life on Wall Street when he is pulled back in by his old friend and Deputy Director of the CIA James Greer (Wendell Pierce) to pick up an item overseas. That item tends to get him back into his old role caught between the CIA and MI:6 who are struggling to stop an organization that has Greer’s past coming back to haunt him in a race against time before the world falls into darkness.
I have always been kind of “OK, that’s a thing” with Krasinski in a role that has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, AND Ben Affleck, and I don’t think he is a bad representation of the character here. There is definitely a bit of a “one of these kids is doing his own thing” vibe, but that is not said to his detriment. It’s just… different.
My main thing here is that this film lacks a certain “oomph” that I am used to with Jack Ryan’s adventures. It’s not something I can necessarily put my finger on, but I never really felt the stakes like I have done in the past. Perhaps this is the type of storytelling that the series decides to use, but on the grander scale I just expected more.
Now to the question that this review may beg: does watching Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War make me want to go back and catch up on the four seasons that are currently out there? Honestly? It does! I am intrigued to see if I would enjoy the film a bit more if I had the “entire picture,” and plan on doing so this summer and will report back once I have done that (and may even watch the film again to be sure).
While some of the films that make their way to Prime Video from its conglomerate, I don’t think this one would benefit from any form of a theatrical run. Whether it is meant to stand on its own or complement the series that is already out there is the question that I look forward to answering. If you are caught up, I am interested in your thoughts!