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John Krasinski’s «Jack Ryan» TV series was an immersive spy watch. His return in the Tom Clancy movie «Ghost War» (streaming Wednesday, May 20, on Prime Video) brings plenty of action but little else.

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Tom Clancy's literary all-American action hero Jack Ryan saved the world in quite a few movies − played by a bunch of A-listers – before coming to TV. He's returned to film, and it's not a great move, honestly.
John Krasinski reprises his role from Amazon's Jack Ryan series as the globetrotting CIA analyst/field operative in “Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War†(★★ out of four; rated R; streaming now on Prime Video). It’s a mouthful of a title for a thriller that's got plenty of spycraft, intergovernmental trust issues and stuff blowing up, but isn't very deep. At least Krasinski, doing his part yet again as the likable Everyman, gives “Ghost War†enough of a moral center and steely presence to stick with the dad-movie narrative.
After four seasons of dealing with drug cartels, terrorist organizations, political warfare and a nuclear bomb, “Ghost War†catches up with Jack, now a civilian with a rather safe gig in New York City. Still, he misses being in the field – which is what longtime friend James Greer (Wendell Pierce), deputy director of the CIA, figures when he comes to see Jack. He wants Jack to meet a guy in Dubai, with the barest of intel, and although at first reluctant, Jack teams up with another old pal, ex-CIA operative Mike November (Michael Kelly), to suss out the situation.
Of course, everything goes sideways quickly. A sniper kills the dude Jack's supposed to meet right in front of him, chain-smoking MI6 agent Emily Marlow gets involved, and Jack begins to get the full intel on the situation. Starling, a black-ops squad formed decades ago to take out terrorist plots that was ultimately shut down by Greer, has been resurrected for vengeful purposes by British war hero Liam Crown (Max Beesley). It's up to Jack and Co. to stop him before something extremely bad happens to a famous London landmark.
Directed by Andrew Bernstein, “Ghost War†certainly delivers on the action element but suffers from the same aspect that plagues another show-turned-movie out this week, “The Mandalorian and Grogu.†It's like a streamlined season of the series that takes out all the interesting character development and evolving plot threads in favor of the pew-pew-pew and crash-boom-bang. That's more forgivable with a “Star Wars†jam – not so much with “Jack Ryan,†a spy drama that let Jack cook in long-form storytelling. He still gets moments to analyze problems and hold power to account, but there's too little of what made the show so immersive and watchable.
It's a shame since Krasinski, also a producer and cowriter on «Ghost War,» is by far our best Jack Ryan. Various high-profile names – Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine – have played Clancy's signature character in movies since 1990 to varying degrees of success. But the show really let Krasinski tap into Jack's big brain and thoughtfully explore what it would look like for someone to get pulled from desk duty and thrown into extraordinary circumstances on a global scale.
Without that, “Ghost War†is just another by-the-numbers franchise movie. Moving back to that after seeing what worked so well in the TV run makes one think they don't know Jack.
When is the new ‘Jack Ryan’ movie coming out?
«Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War,» starring John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce, is streaming now on Amazon’s Prime Video. It’s rated R by the Motion Picture Association for «violence and language.» Seasons 1 to 4 of the «Jack Ryan» series are also streaming on Prime.
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