GoKawiilTom Clancy's Jack Ryan is back in Ghost War, the first full-length movie starring John Krasinski as the famed CIA operative. The movie, directed by Andrew Bernstein (who directed episodes of the TV series), premieres on Prime Video on Wednesday. If you're at all familiar with the four-season series that preceded it, you're about to get more of the same. Well, sorta.
When Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan TV series premiered, I was all in. Truthfully, I am a sucker for espionage stories and spy thrillers, and I write about TV, so having Clancy's iconic character make the leap to episodic storytelling was a no-brainer for me to tune in. I didn't stick with it, though.
Jack Ryan feels more at home in self-contained, big-budget action films. Just look at the previous iterations of the character as played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. Well, three years after the original series concluded, we're getting a new Jack Ryan movie -- except, it's not in theaters.
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John Krasinski, Sienna Miller, Wendell Pierce and Michael Kelly star in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War. Amazon MGM Studios
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War picks up with Ryan, who, after exiting the espionage business, is brought back into the fray by former CIA boss James Greer (Wendell Pierce) to investigate a terror threat unlike any he's ever faced before. Ryan is soon back on a mission with the battle-tested, wisecracking Mike November (Michael Kelly) and must contend with MI6 officer Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller), who becomes a part of their rag-tag outfit in the field.
The threat in question turns out to be superpersonal for Greer and exposes some unknown skeletons he probably wished would've remained in his closet. Betrayal, redemption and a whole lot of violent justice transpire throughout the story; to explain more would enter into spoiler territory and would be a disservice to the movie, which is a solid yet safe espionage endeavor.
I should note that you don't need to know anything about the Jack Ryan TV series to enjoy the movie. As I mentioned above, I never finished watching the original show, and Ghost War works well as a standalone story, with all the necessary narrative details introduced early on to help newcomers nestle in and enjoy the story.
That said, the movie doesn't reinvent the genre wheel. Honestly, it doesn't need to. In its four seasons, the TV series established the dynamic of these characters and solidified Krasinski as a formidable action star. Throughout watching the movie, I still found myself in awe of his ability to toe the line between charismatic comedy and no-nonsense hero.
Sienna Miller, Michael Kelly and John Krasinski star in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War. Amazon MGM Studios
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