I went to an early press screening for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, currently available to watch on Prime. This is the first feature length film for the Jack Ryan character played by John Krasinski. I will admit and be perfectly honest that this was my first time watching Tom Clancy, let alone experiencing…
I went to an early press screening for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, currently available to watch on Prime. This is the first feature length film for the Jack Ryan character played by John Krasinski. I will admit and be perfectly honest that this was my first time watching Tom Clancy, let alone experiencing his world, so I was going into this movie completely unsure what to expect.
One of my concerns with movies full of action is that they focus too much on the action and not much on the story. I believe in having a good balance of everything. Going into this movie, one of my fears was that it was going to be a bunch of mindless action and violence with not much story to back it. But to my surprise, there was a story present throughout. And to my other surprise, the story was heavily the focus and the action was very little, something I thought I would never say about an action movie.
When it comes to the story, it was okay. There were some moments of twists and turns, but overall it was just okay. As regards to acting, it was also okay. But when it came to the moments of action, that’s when my senses were the most active and when I was at the edge of my seat. The problem was I wanted more of that.
Some of my favorite moments had to be with Jack Ryan and Mike November, played by Michael Kelly. As somebody who watches film, I really like banter, or what I call characters interacting one on one, talking, engaging, maybe even arguing. I don’t know much about Mike November, or the Jack Ryan character in regards to everything before this, but I liked how they talked with each other and interacted, and I enjoyed when they were on screen together.
But somebody who stole the show for me had to be Patrick Klinghoffer, played by Adam Barnett. From my understanding, he is a regular character in the TV show, and when he was on screen, I couldn’t help but smile and laugh at his moments. He really grounded the film. Not that the other characters aren’t doing their best, but here you have just a guy at a computer who shows up toward the end of the film, and the way he responded and engaged with the other characters was very human, and I can relate to that. I wish we had more of him. We aren’t being chased by bad guys, and there aren’t a lot of gunfights, at least in my world, so I can’t really relate to that, but I can relate to him.
The film seemed to repeat the same thing over and over again just to make sure we understood what was happening, and I found that a little weird after sitting down and watching the film. There are a lot of twists and turns, and this movie made me hate the bad guy, which is something that is very important in a film. But I wish there was a bit more balance between action and story, and I wish the story was a bit more compelling. Again, I was wanting more.
I give it a three out of five.
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