Not much Clear and Present Danger here.
Tom Clancy’s literature CIA analyst character Jack Ryan has been able to transition himself into movies. Alec Baldwin played him in “The Hunt for Red October,” Harrison Ford played him in “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger,” Ben Affleck played him in “The Sum of All Fears,” Chris Pine Played him in “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” and John Krasinski played him in the Amazon Prime Video series “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.”
Now, we have another movie version of the character, which in this case is based on the Prime Video series and has the subtitle: “Ghost War.” But this one is disappointing for fans of the series or any adaptation or book. It’s funny because twice this week, we have two streaming series making the feature length jump. “The Mandalorian and Grogu” made the jump from Disney+ to the big screen, while “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War” stays on Amazon Prime Video. The former may seem like an extended episode, but it still had a lot of fun and great visuals to have fans wanting to see it in a movie theater. And the latter makes the better choice of being online, because given its convoluted plot and lack of development, it’s not really worth that trip to the theater.
Krasinski reprises his series role as Jack, who is tasked by CIA deputy director James Greer (Wendell Pierce) to travel to Dubai with contractor Mike November (Michael Kelly) to pick up something from a man named Nigel Cooke (Douglas Hodge). But the mission becomes compromised, Nigel gets killed, and these two Americans are captured by a mysterious woman named Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller), who reveals the recently departed had secret information for Jack’s boss.
The intel regards Starling, a military group that Greer dealt with a while ago, and his former partner Liam Crown (Max Beesley) has reinstated it. Is this part of the villain’s revenge or is this part of something bigger? This is when Jack, Mike, Emma, and Greer must collaborate.
“Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War” was written by Krasinski, Aaron Rabin (who also wrote a few of the show’s episodes and “Nobody 2”), and the usually provocative Noah Oppenheim (“A House of Dynamite,” “Jackie”). And the director is Andrew Bernstein, who directed a few episodes of the show, as well as many other shows like “Ozark,” “The Outsider,” and “Foundation.” His feature debut is not the kind of series-to-movie transition it could have been.
Krasinski does a good job producing himself and portraying the Tom Clancy character with his charms and tone and I liked the supporting work from Pierce and Kelly. But the movie doesn’t specialize in expanding on Krasinki’s portrayal after the series ended in 2023. In fact, despite some talented writers he collaborates with, the story is too convoluted and run-of-the-mill for its own good. It’s all by the numbers, and it doesn’t really take fans anywhere new.
This movie seems to enjoy the action, chases, explosions, and the occasional wisecracks at lot more than we would. It seems too perfunctory with all these elements, and you believe that if a popular show wants to make the leap into feature length, it should really have its heart in the right place. I still think, despite some complications, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” knows how to appear on the big screen with how it uses the special effects and action. And before “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” premiered on Netflix, I did see it in a theater and I did enjoy it for representing where it wants to go after the finale.
Either this “Jack Ryan” will be another finale or it will be the start of a movie franchise. You decide.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video