By Chris Evangelista/Aug. 16, 2018 12:30 pm EST
Jack Ryan Trailer
Jack Ryan stars John Krasinski as the eponymous CIA analyst, who is trying to prevent an impending terrorist attack. The show is based on the many, many Tom Clancy books featuring Ryan. This isn’t Ryan’s first time on the screen, either. Previous Clancy adaptations have brought the character to life, in a variety of different ways. Alec Baldwin played him in The Hunt for Red October. Harrison Ford took on the part in Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games. Ben Affleck stepped into the role for The Sum of All Fears. And Chris Pine gave it a shot with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
Of all these films, Red October is the only entry I’d call genuinely good. The rest fall somewhere in between serviceable and bad. The fact of the matter is that producers have had a hard time making Jack Ryan work. The character in Clancy’s books isn’t inherently an action hero – at least not at first. But the film adaptations have progressively turned him into more of an ass-kicking James Bond type.
