But even with its thrifty set pieces and smaller ambitions, this attempt to reboot the series based on Tom Clancy characters does the most important thing right: It almost always feels like a Jack Ryan movie.
At first glance, Chris Pine seems miscast in the role. In previous work - most notably as James T. Kirk in the newer "Star Trek" movies - Pine thrives as a rogue who propels events with his arrogant instincts. Clancy's Ryan character is anything but a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants loose cannon. He has an academic mind, making bold moves only after careful contemplation. He's capable in a fight, never comfortable.
But under taut direction from Kenneth Branagh (who also plays the Russian heavy), Pine is convincing as a character who is pushing papers one day, and dodging assassins in Moscow the next.
One film into the series, he's already vaulted past Ben Affleck as the third best Ryan, and seems within striking distance of Alec Baldwin and Harrison "How dare you, sir!" Ford.
The new Ryan film is the first not based on a Clancy book. It also has a filmed origin story, which quickly separates itself from the time frame of the four previous movies. This Jack Ryan was pushed into military duty after the Sept. 11 attacks. After a crippling accident, he's recruited by a CIA higher-up (Kevin Costner) who wants to use his analytic skills to fight terrorism.
Watch "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" with a cynical eye, and you'll glimpse evidence that studio confidence might have waned. Adjusting for inflation, this is the cheapest-looking Ryan movie. The lean 105-minute running time doesn't look voluntary. Like the much-tampered-with but still entertaining "World War Z," some recognizable actors are strangely reduced to cameos.
But Branagh and the relay team of screenwriters involved with the project set an expert pace. Patrick Doyle's pulse-quickening score is a huge asset, especially when Ryan gets in one of his many think-quick-or-die jams. (If Doyle's score accompanied a guy eating Fritos on the subway, it still might be good for three minutes of harrowing tension.)
"Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" does make one critical mistake: the casting of Keira Knightley as Ryan's love interest, and then thrusting her into the action in a thoroughly unconvincing way. Knightley's performance is Gwyneth Paltrow-esque, offering the audience no good reason for Ryan to be in love with her, then using her as a lazy plot device - only on the screen to suffer and be rescued.
Perhaps knowing older audiences will miss Ford, Ann Archer and James Earl Jones, we get a heaping dose of Costner. The actor oozes precision and confidence; under different circumstances he might have been the best Jack Ryan of all.
Settle for the fact that Costner is being cast in every other big movie these days, and is a welcome presence each time. A couple more roles like this and his debt for making audiences sit through three hours of "The Postman" will finally be paid.
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