Tom Cruise has some competition.
Jack Ryan is back, and the latest installment, “Ghost War,” is as big as anything Cruise encountered in “Mission: Impossible.”
The new film goes to Dubai and puts John Krasinski’s Ryan through his paces as he uncovers a black-ops conspiracy that starts the clock ticking.
With fellow operatives Mike November (Michael Kelly) and James Greer (Wendell Pierce), he’s put into play with a British MI6 officer Emma Marlowe (Sienna Miller), who’s just as good at running, hanging and chasing the baddies all around the world.
Thanks to director Andrew Bernstein, “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War,” is as big as its title. It has plenty of drone shots and explosions, lots of hidden meaning and a performance by Douglas Hodge that sets plenty in motion.
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Pierce, too, gets more action than we remember and emerges as the kind of CIA director Ryan and company deserve.
“Ghost War” gets important moments in Great Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Washington, D.C., and Krasinski, who co-wrote the screenplay, gets some snappy dialogue that elevates this from television series to film staple.
While “Ghost War” doesn’t tell everything about the CIA, it does suggest there’s plenty of “gray area stuff” that requires vetting.
Krasinski does a fine job confronting his own fears in the process of second-guessing others. He’s confident running and jumping, and he has a moment with Miller that’s truly harrowing.
While others have been here before, Krasinski runs in Ryan’s shoes. He has a team, too, that could bring Clancy’s character back to his old form. We can only hope this is the new beginning.
