Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) was a Marine just serving his
country, but when a tragic accident leaves him damaged, he finds himself in the
hands of the CIA. With a new opportunity at hand, Ryan finds himself in a
sticky situation, one that will determine the world’s economy.
The
Story
One word: predictable.
Alright, I’m a little harsh – I know – but let’s face it,
when it comes to action films it’s more about how many car chases and gun
wounds can they can give the characters. The story in itself was simple: guy serves
his country à guy almost dies for his country à guy is given a second shot to serve his country à guy ends up saving his country, and the world – then
there’s obviously got to be some Russians in there.
It’s hard to say that action films will go beyond that
formula, I mean I know it’s what’s fuelled the action genre’s success, but they
could’ve at least thrown in a few more twist and turns in there. Also the
execution of introducing characters was slightly sloppy. At times the pace was
too fast and you missed vital information for the progression of the story.
On the positive side, there were great action shots, and
quirky dialogue, but they weren’t enough to warrant a great deal of care from
this reviewer…sorry guys.
The
Cast
Chris Pine – the last few years we’ve seen a mixture of things
by Pine, action wise, he made Ryan believable. Honestly, I’m not sure if he had
much to work with, but I will say the scope of his character was dynamic enough
for growth, so I’ll give him one thumbs up for bringing Ryan to life.
Keira Knightly - I was disappointed with Knightly’s
performance, particularly her American accent. Its occasional falter wasn’t
distracting, but I think her focus was more on sounding American that actually
being Cathy. There was no spark between her and Pine at all, that was the most disappointing part of
the film. She usually has a great chemistry with her co-stars, but I just
didn’t see it here with Pine.
Kenneth Branagh – I have to say that Branagh outshined everyone
in this film. I much preferred his character to Pine’s, which says a lot about
the film – if you’re on the villain’s side you know there’s something off. He
was believable and made you sympathised with Viktor more than Ryan.
Kevin Costner – Bit of a ghost-like guardian in this film,
I don’t think Costner’s character really does very much in this film. He is
kind of just there – he’s not even the comic relief. I’m not too sure what his
role was, but in all honesty he might as well have been Charlie in Charlie’s Angels – a telecom. Again,
sorry for the harshness.
Overall the film had no “Wow-factor”. There was nothing new
and there was nothing exciting about the film. I mean if you want to prove me
wrong, go see it for yourself and comment on this review, otherwise, please
save you money for something better. 2014 has more up its sleave, so save up
for some of those films!
Star Rating: ★★
Next: Saving Mr.
Banks
Seeing that it is January, I'm glad that there's a movie that's better than being junk. Good review.
ReplyDeleteThanks, yeah it was pretty early, so I guess it was a good start to the year for action films.
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