Reviews for this film from our members:
- [New – 5/15/14] | Dragan Antulov @ Draxblog VI [Croatian]
- Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit may not be the best spy film or even the best Tom Clancy adaptation. It is however, a very good film that meets all the requirements it is asked of: strong action, good performances, engrossing story.
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Incomprensiblemente pobre regreso del personaje de Tom Clancy a las pantallas de todo el mundo. Sosa desde el guion y poco briosa desde la dirección de Kenneth Branagh, una propuesta a lamentar. Si la franquicia continúa, sólo puede ir a mejor.
- Edwin Arnaudin @ Ashvegas
- Excerpt: Then there’s Branagh, who never met an accent he didn’t master, striking a formidable evil presence as the Russian baddie. Fine acting aside, after this and Thor he’s established himself as a reliable action director and someone who could seemingly handle even more ambitious assignments.
- Chris Barsanti @ Film Journal International
- Excerpt: Kenneth Branagh’s reboot of the all-purpose Tom Clancy hero wastes crisp direction and an eager cast on a by-the-numbers ticking-bomb plot.
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Daniel Carlson @ Pajiba
- Kevin Carr @ 7M Pictures
- Excerpt: In the end, it’s not perfect, but you can do a lot worse this month, and even this opening weekend.
- Bill Clark @ From The Balcony
- Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río
- Excerpt: Una de las peores películas de Kenneth Branagh.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: Ryan can survive a world where any information one might need is a smartphone away but is doomed to be stuck in a Cold War mentality.
- Kimberly Gadette @ doddle
- Excerpt: Inanities aside, the movie delivers suspense throughout. But between this turn and ‘Star Trek,’ Pine may find himself up to his neck in all sorts of re-booties. Let’s hope he keeps away from Howard the Duck.
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Efficient, escapist, mid-winter popcorn picture
- Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: This spy picture is thoroughly by-the-numbers with very little to distinguish itself from others of its ilk. In other words, the James Bond and Jason Bourne franchises have nothing to worry about.
- Blake Howard @ Dark Horizons
- Excerpt: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is giving Branagh a chance to get in Dr. Frankenstein’s shoe once again; Cozad and Koepp ignore the library of source material and assist in creating a monster from elements of other successful spy characters.
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Why reboot remains a question, but this is a smart popcorn thriller with a surprisingly sensitive performance by Chris Pine, and a wonderfully badass one by Kevin Costner.
- Daniel Kelly @ Danland
- Excerpt: This is a hero who first appeared some 30 years ago, and in 2014 he’s really beginning to creak.
- Ben Kendrick @ Screen Rant
- Excerpt: Short Version: An enjoyable but average (in nearly every way imaginable) spy drama.
- Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: A summer-style genre movie that ends up being far better than the majority of lousy January dumps, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” isn’t a whole lot more than sufficiently entertaining, but entertain it does.
- Benjamin Kramer @ The Voracious Filmgoer
- Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight
- Excerpt: As many times as Paramount has attempted to resurrect the Jack Ryan franchise, you would think they would have tried some new formula. Yet, here we are again with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit picking up a hot new “it” guy (like Ben Affleck the last time) and trying to turn a servicable, but unimpressive script into a massive, overhyped phenomenon.
- Brent McKnight @ Beyond Hollywood
- Excerpt: ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’ is dull, predictable, and just kind of crappy.
- Ross Miller @ Thoughts On Film
- Excerpt: A by-the-numbers spy thriller that stands in the shadow of not only most of the franchise’s previous instalments but other all-pervading franchises like Bourne and Bond.
- Nell Minow @ The Movie Mom
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit might be one of the most generic, artless, and hilariously macho action movies in some time. It’s the Nickelback of Hollywood reboots.
- Frank Ochieng @ Focus of New York Magazine
- Excerpt: Despite Pine’s flimsy take as Ryan not being saucy enough to generate any characterization complexity, Shadow Recruit is still serviceable as a viable actioner that embraces its manufactured intrigue with ambitious gusto.
- R. Kurt Osenlund @ Slant Magazine
- Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: The director has come a long way from Shakespeare, but he knows exactly what kind of movie this is, and delivers an engaging little diversion.
- Amir Siregar @ Flick Magazine [Indonesian]
- Cole Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: For a no frills spy thriller, Kenneth Branagh directs a respectable rendering of Tom Clancy’s well-worn Jack Ryan superspy character. Still, Branagh is no action-film director, and it shows.
- Josh Spiegel @ Sound on Sight
- Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: A pleasingly old-fashioned piece [that] manages to deliver a couple of hours of cheekily retro, amusingingly implausible spycraft.
- Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Mel Valentin @ VeryAware.com
- Excerpt: And the Non-Academy Award for Best January release goes to…
- Phil Villarreal @ COED.com
- Sarah Ward @ Trespass Magazine