Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

There’s quite a lot of action — a fight with a chauffeur turned assassin in a hotel room is insanely violent.

The vulnerability of the Jack Ryan character is still present, something very important that keeps us rooting for him.

"Shadow Recruit" is fun in a minor, winter-season way.

It's rare that a movie like this should be longer, but a little elongating might help this clipped, B-grade thriller resonate a little deeper.

[T]he film's second half seems determined to snuff out the promise of its first, making it hard to wish for this incarnation of the character, or any, to have more big-screen adventures.

Hardly earth-shattering, then, but efficient and entertaining nonetheless.

While it’s not the greatest thing we’ve seen, there are elements that were good and fun to see. It was thrilling at times and it was interesting to see Jack Ryan as an action guy, rather than just a spy genius.

Clear and present slumber.

Is this a formula that we’ve seen before? Absolutely. But when I’m enjoying myself, I just don’t care.

The film and story aren’t as dense or involving as the author’s books or previous book adaptations, but Paramount has delivered a worthy franchise restarter.