‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’ Review: John Krasinski Stars

Did you know that Dubai is one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world? It’s but one of many less than revelatory facts strewn throughout Amazon Prime Video’s Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, a film whose full title will only be mentioned once in this review. John Krasinski reprises the role he played for four years in the series and which has been played on the big screen by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine (bet you forgot that last one). Now that he’s back, it’s a safe bet that there will be more cinematic entries in the future, although things are off to an unpromising start.

How unpromising is evident right from the beginning, when Ryan, retired from the CIA and now working on Wall Street as a hedge fund analyst, is jogging through the streets of lower Manhattan and becomes alarmed when he realizes he’s being shadowed by two black vans. A frantic chase ensues, with him ducking in and out of a restaurant and bookstore in an attempt to evade the apparent bad guys. When he’s finally cornered, he’s surprised to learn that it’s actually his former CIA boss, James Greer (Wendell Pierce, returning from the series), who wants to recruit him for a freelance assignment 

When Ryan suggests that a simple phone call would have been easier, Greer replies, “Where’s the fun in that?” What he doesn’t mention is that it also provides the opportunity for a suspenseful opening scene, albeit one that thoroughly cheats the viewer.

Said assignment involves Jack going to Dubai, accompanied by fellow agent Mike November (Michael Kelly, another series veteran), and picking up a vitally important package from a former M16 operative (Douglas Hodge, sadly not around for too long). It seems like something any experienced CIA agent could handle, but few others headline a successful film and television franchise.

Needless to say, things don’t go as planned, and Jack finds himself in a simultaneously complex and simplistic conspiracy storyline involving another former MI6 agent, Liam Crown (Max Beesley, who, besides his numerous acting credits, has a successful career as a musician). It turns out that Crown was previously involved with Greer in Project Starling, a secret black-ops program that was shut down. Now Crown’s gone rogue, and it’s up to Ryan to stop him, with the help of tough, chain-smoking British agent Emma Marlowe (Sienna Miller). By the time a plan to blow up Tower Bridge has been revealed, most viewers will have abandoned keeping track of the plot.

As with so many espionage films, Jack Ryan: Ghost War revels in setting the action in familiar locations. Besides the foot chase in Manhattan, there’s a speedboat chase in Dubai and a car chase through the crowded streets of London. A key scene involving a tense meeting among the major characters takes place in the middle of Trafalgar Square, because how else do you justify that travel budget?

Krasinski executive produced and co-wrote the screenplay but doesn’t seem to have been very interested in character development or meaningful dialogue, unless you count a frustrated Greer bellowing “You and your goddamn moral compass!” to Ryan when things get heated. There’s also loads of exposition, with the characters patiently explaining what’s happening to each other so that viewers scrolling through their phones at home will be able to keep up.

Krasinski is, as always, an affable, engaging screen presence and is physically convincing going through the action paces (Ryan was originally conceived as a more cerebral figure, but he certainly hasn’t been played onscreen that way). But he’s also more than a bit bland, failing to anchor the proceedings in sufficiently compelling manner. For someone whose character’s name is so prominently featured in the title, he tends to fade into the background. That may work for a spy in real life, but in the movies it’s a detriment.