John Krasinski’s Jack Ryan is back, and I wish I could say for the better, but sadly no. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie for what it is, but after four seasons with this Jack Ryan…we don’t need a movie, and this story would have been better as like a six-episode season. There’s a lot of things I like about Jack Ryan Ghost War. It definitely has an intriguing story regarding a Black Ops group going rogue and how their history ties back to James Greer. The movie introduces some great characters. I love Sienna Miller playing an agent with MI6. And we have a really good villain. But this isn’t the typical Jack Ryan story we’re used a well formulated mystery box where Jack Ryan as an analyst must put all the pieces together. This is an action movie. This is Amazon trying to make Jack Ryan into James Bond.
This what works with this movie and why you should watch it. John Krasinski is a great Jack Ryan. He is easily my favorite behind Harrison Ford. He plays a great reluctant hero that can easily defend himself and gets the job done. We have a great female protagonist with agent Emma Marlowe played by Sienna Miller. She is the perfect partner and sometimes foil for Krasinski’s Jack Ryan. I hope we get to see more of her. Wendell Pierce plays a fantastic James Greer who is Deputy director of the CIA in the movie and Max Beasley nails it as the villain. The story feels like a Tom Clancy story, but unfortunately it plays too much like a James Bond movie and that’s never what Jack Ryan stories were supposed to be. As I said this is the kind of story that should have been played out over at least six episodes especially for how the movie ended because I don’t think it’s the last that we’ve seen of John Krasinski as Jack Ryan.
However the main problem without sounding to repetitive is this movie takes away from what we are used to with this Jack Ryan. He is not a spy in the field, he was never meant to be one. Yes, this character gets tangled up in situations and ends up going into the field, but he’s not the warrior that takes down the bad guy. While this is a good story, we get to the story’s conclusion way too fast. Also, the story of spies going rogue has been played out especially in James Bond movies. For me it was like watching Skyfall but as a Jack Ryan story…sorry, there’s too many similarities. Now there’s plenty of cool things about this movie especially old school tech and spy craft that will entertain you, but it’s not enough to make this a great Jack Ryan story. It’s okay. I see it as filler while getting ready to do a new season and as a way of introducing the character back into the CIA because if you remember at the end of season 4, sorry spoiler, he leaves. I can buy that for the reason they made this movie. However, it’s not the best story we’ve seen and having gone back to watch the series, this very much plays like a short film just to entertain me before we get to the main screening.
The movie is entertaining.
The action is good. The cast is even better, but if Amazon is going to continue to tell Jack Ryan stories, then do it the right way…come out with another season or even a limited series. Jack Ryan is not their James Bond…Amazon already owns property and should continue developing stories for whoever will be the new 007. Maybe eight episodes is a little excessive because the last season of Jack Ryan were they even introduced Rainbow Six worked very well as six episodes. We don’t need Jack Ryan taking down the bad guy with a gun like he is a Black ops agent. It’s an okay movie to watch as a way to reintroduce the characters, but going forward, Amazon needs to get back to the basics and do another series. I still have problems with season 2, but the other seasons were great. They are a slow burn to fantastic endings. This is the best way to tell Jack Ryan stories…not James Bond stories, I still give the movie a 7, but Amazon should stick with what works regarding Jack Ryan.
