Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Movie Blurb by Shale January 26, 2014 This was the movie I planned to see last weekend, but a nasty cold made me not want to leave the apartment. I still have a kof this weekend but am well enuf to defy it and remain quiet thru a movie, so I got to see it today. Not only a good action movie but starring Chris Pine, Kevin Costner and Keira Knightley - sort of a must see movie for me. This is a story based on the Tom Clancy character, Jack Ryan but was not written by him. This is the fifth installment in this franchise that goes back to the 1990s and previously starred Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck in the title role. I have only seen the Affleck/Freeman movie The Sum of All Fears. The movie was directed by Kenneth Branagh who also plays a prominent character in the movie. This movie starts with the Sept. 2001 terrorist attack when Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is studying economics in London. He quits school, joins the Marines and goes off to Afghanistan, where he is nearly killed. He survives a broken back and goes thru months of rehab at Walter Reed, where he gets attached to his physical therapist, Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley). Med Student & Wounded Warrior Connect No sooner does he get on his feet again than he is contacted by Naval Officer Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) who, impressed with his analytical abilities, recruits him for the CIA. He is to finish his schooling and go to work as a plant in the financial business. Jack Ryan & Thomas Harper Meet A decade later, Jack is shacking up with Cathy and working on Wall Street when he discovers something amiss in some Russian trading. He suspects there is a plot to sink the U.S. economy and put us into a Great Depression faster than the Repugnicants in Congress. He is denied access to certain Russian businesses he is supposed to be analyzing for his company so he goes off to Russia to access it directly. In Russia he is nearly assassinated but Agent Harper meets him in a park, calms him and sets him back on his mission - which at this point is into the good old 'cloak & dagger' type of espionage. Ryan & Harper Clandestine Meet in Moscow He then meets with the company head Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh) who seems less than forthright about the finances to which he is being denied. Also his GF Cathy, suspecting him of having an affair comes to Moscow, which you know will complicate things. Oh yeah, there's also suspense and street level action in this movie. Jack Ryan on Motorcycle Chase I really liked this movie, glad I pushed myself to go see it today and will likely be seeing it again on DVD.
