THE STORY – Jack Ryan, who reunites with CIA operatives to navigate a treacherous web of betrayal against an enemy who knows their every move, faces a past they thought was long put to rest.
THE CAST – John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel, Sienna Miller & Max Beesley
THE TEAM – Andrew Bernstein (Director), Aaron Rabin & John Krasinski (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
Never in a million years would anyone have guessed that John Krasinski would become the longest tenured performer to play iconic fictional CIA agent Jack Ryan. The mantle, which Kransinski picked up through the 2019 television series named after the titular analyst-turned-field-agent and creation of famous author Tom Clancy, further fueled Kransinski’s image rebrand from being known as Jim Halpert from “The Office” to a reliable action star. A title that paired well with his newly formed director cap, as his work on “A Quiet Place” would soon lead to the birth of a massive horror franchise that is currently filming a third entry (not including “Day One”). Kransinski’s time on “Jack Ryan” spanned four seasons, and the result was fine at best, leading a moderately watchable spy series that hit all the beats it needed to for streaming. Now, not long after the series wrapped, it seems Kransinski is ready to step back into the shadows with a continuation in the form of a feature film. “Jack Ryan: Ghost War” is, if anything, a film that is an amalgamation of the best and worst aspects of the series, leading to yet another middling outing for the spy, which is all the more familiar for the character since the 2000s.
In “Ghost War,” Jack Ryan, living his life as a civilian in New York, remains adamant in his decision to step away from a life of espionage in hopes of achieving some sense of normality. Of course, this is only temporary as Wendell Pierce’s James Greer, the current deputy director of the CIA and friend of Jack, ropes him back in for what is promised to be a simple information swap in Dubai. In his typically reluctant manner, Jack goes along with the plan, joined by his former colleague, Mike November, played by Michael Kelly. To audiences, this is all but a familiar build-up to a “Jack Ryan” adventure that proves to adhere to the series’s formula as Jack unravels buried truths tied to Greer’s past involving the presence of Max Beesley’s Crowne, a wanted special ops soldier trying to resuscitate an unsanctioned kill-squad Starlight. Everything else is business as usual, as Jack embarks on another mission that is all but routine for audiences at this point.
The strongest aspect of the series was Kransinski and Pierce’s dynamic, which perfectly balanced their comedic wit with their intensity. For most of “Ghost War,” the two are at odds or shells of themselves as that magic is lost within Andrew Berstein’s direction. Kelly tries to bring some magnetism to his quip-delivery machine of a character, but it often misses the mark. Sienna Miller’s Emma Marlow, a MI-6 agent tasked with helping Jack on this case, is possibly the only character in the film who doesn’t come off as a caricature. Still, even the screenplay has her relegated to a woman agent whose stone-cold shell is little more than a guise.
The heart of the problem with this iteration of Jack Ryan has always been that Krasinski was too stilted a performer to be Jack Ryan. He has always demonstrated the ability to deliver dependable work, yet has never managed to attain the gravitas of most of his predecessors. Chris Pine, if anyone, has been the only performer to reach the level of Harrison Ford or Alec Baldwin, yet he never got a fair shake at the role. With four seasons of television and now a film, Krasinski has had far more room to grow into Jack Ryan, and all he’s done is manage to be as stagnant as he has since the very start.
Kransinski, who is a confident screenwriter, does lend his talents to the page along with
Aaron Rabin, yet it’s all to craft a by-the-books spy thriller that even Tom Clancy would’ve yawned at. Not even a story credit by Noah Oppenheimer can lend any heft to the geopolitical nitty-gritty the story delves into, instead opting for an asinine plot that feels far more cartoonish than grounded in any sense of realism. This, paired with Bernstein’s inability to stage and capture a memorable action set piece, makes “Ghost War” work far better as a travel advertisement for Dubai than as an effective espionage thriller. It all makes one wonder why any of the original team returned for a sequel that not only undoes some of the far more impactful emotional beats of the final season but also leaves audiences in limbo about whether they even want to see Jack Ryan suit up for another disaster to solve.
