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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
Summary
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is an action-thriller film and a reboot of the Jack Ryan film series, serving as an origin story for the character created by Tom Clancy. It is not an adaptation of a specific novel but an original screenplay. The film establishes Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) as a bright economics student who joins the U.S. Marines after the September 11th attacks. After a severe injury in Afghanistan, he is covertly recruited by CIA official Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) to work as a financial analyst on Wall Street. Ryan uncovers a massive Russian-led conspiracy orchestrated by oligarch Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh) to destabilize the global economy and execute a terrorist attack on the U.S., forcing the desk-bound analyst into his first deadly field mission.
Plot
The film begins with a young Jack Ryan, an economics graduate student in London, being deeply affected by the September 11th attacks. He joins the U.S. Marines and is later critically injured in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, which introduces him to medical student Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley) during his rehabilitation. During his recovery, he is recruited by CIA veteran Thomas Harper to serve as a covert analyst.
Ten years later, Ryan is living in New York with Cathy (now his fiancée and a doctor), working as a high-level compliance officer on Wall Street, secretly reporting suspicious financial activity to the CIA. Ryan uncovers a massive number of suspicious transactions indicating a complex Russian plot to devalue the U.S. dollar, triggering a global economic collapse, followed by a physical terrorist attack.
Ryan is sent to Moscow to conduct a deep audit of a Russian company owned by oligarch Viktor Cherevin, who is at the heart of the conspiracy. Almost immediately upon arrival, Ryan survives an assassination attempt by an agent posing as his security detail, confirming the threat is real and forcing him into an active field agent role. Harper arrives in Moscow to provide backup and guide the rookie agent.
Cathy, unaware of Ryan's true profession, flies to Moscow believing he is having an affair, which forces Ryan to break protocol and reveal his CIA employment to her. Using Cathy as an unintentional distraction at a dinner with Cherevin, Ryan successfully infiltrates Cherevin's office to download crucial data.
The CIA discovers that Cherevin's plan involves a coordinated financial collapse followed by a terrorist attack in the U.S. orchestrated by Cherevin's sleeper agent son, Aleksandr. Ryan uses his analytical skills to determine the target is Wall Street. He rushes back to New York, where he identifies a fake police response vehicle carrying the bomb. In the climax, Ryan hijacks the bomb-laden vehicle and drives it into the East River, jumping out just before it detonates, killing Aleksandr and averting the attack.
With the physical and economic attacks foiled, Cherevin is assassinated by his own conspirators to cover their tracks. The film ends with a married Jack and Cathy, alongside Harper, being briefed for their next assignment at the White House.
Cast
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Chris Pine as Jack Ryan
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Kevin Costner as Thomas Harper
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Keira Knightley as Dr. Cathy Muller
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Kenneth Branagh as Viktor Cherevin
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Colm Feore as Rob Behringer
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Nonso Anozie as Embee Deng
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Gemma Chan as Amy Chang
Crew
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Director: Kenneth Branagh
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Screenplay by: Adam Cozad and David Koepp
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Based on the Character by: Tom Clancy
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Producers: Mace Neufeld, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, David Barron, and Mark Vahradian
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Music by: Patrick Doyle
Release Date
January 17, 2014 (United States - Wide Release)
