TonyMontana96 (Originally reviewed: 29/03/2017) What could have been a mindless, assault on the ears like a Michael Bay film actually turned out as well crafted, fairly intelligent thriller, that can outcome its flaws by not barraging the audience with sequences of constant destruction, Screenwriters Daniel Pyne, Paul Attanasio and director Phil Robinson have treaded carefully and the result is an effective, well-made picture. The special effects and the sound editing are fairly decent and the cast is full of respectable actors like Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman and Bridget Moynahan (The Recruit) and each performance is pretty good. Also among the cast are James Cromwell (L.A Confidential), Liev Schreiber (Ransom) and Lisa Gay Hamilton (Contact).The story is fairly simple, and though there are one or two unnecessary side plot's, the main story is engaging and always interesting, Affleck play's Jack Ryan, an ex-military man, now historian who help's figure out what's going on, he basically helps the CIA, and his girlfriend played by Bridget Moynahan (Cathy Muller), a nurse at a Baltimore hospital is basically there too create a decent romance, and later on treat the injured people of the nuclear attack, and is also adequate, Freeman plays DCI William Cabot, the right hand man of the president, and as usual is effortlessly compelling, Cromwell play's the president, very well, Live Schreiber play's secret operative John Clark, a mysterious character with an unknown background, he is working for Cabot and Schreiber really does give a solid performance here, he's perfectly cast. Lisa Gay Hamilton play's a presidential member of staff and she's brief but effective. In truth there's plenty of adequate performances here, it would take ages to name everyone.However there were some things that just didn't work like a subplot that hints at Affleck's character being responsible for handing the weapons over to the real bombers, but it's a mere accusation that never goes anywhere, it felt slightly incoherent and was so brief that even the main story ignored going any further with it. Another is a close up of a cigarette machine that is wired with explosives, yet it's never seen again in the picture, so I'm guessing they forgot about it and opted not to use it, but yet it was also unnecessary to be there in the first place, last but not least is the villain, he has no character development at all, you see him briefly but not much is known about him except a name, he barely has any screen time, which is fairly surprising, and it would have been more interesting to know who was responsible and what their motives were for performing such a terrible crime, all there is in this department, is to assume he's under orders, and is working for these evil eastern European politicians.It would have been nice for a bit more insight into parts of the story, but for what it's worth the film brushes off these holes and delivers a well thought out climax that makes enough sense to easily be worth recommending. I'll concede the film isn't that enjoyable but it has hints of amusing, appropriate humour in the first half such as another 007 reference, and a scene where Freeman tells Affleck to tell his girlfriend that he's working for the CIA in which she hangs up and Freeman laughs, as they both know she isn't going to accept that as a believable excuse for him missing there dinner reservation that was due that night. But after that there's scenes of sadness including a football stadium being reduced to dust, in which many people lose their lives, and other scenes of disaster like the deaths of major character's and scenes of discomfort, but at least it's purpose is not to produce mindless entertainment out of a tragic event, like I said earlier Phil Robinson and Daniel Pyne ensure the film is serious, tense and carefully executed, which is one of the reasons it's worth seeing, it's not a clichéd, braindead action film, despite having one or two clichés of course, it's more of a serviceable thriller that possesses political insight, good performances and a satisfying, well-crafted conclusion.

irehawk I don't know why both this movie and Ben Affleck have to be that bad? First of all, this movie is about the Germans trying to ridicule both Russians and Americans by stealing the bombs from both country and framing them like the bomb was launched by the middle east by placing the bomb in a Baltimore NFL stadium where the president is meeting at.Secondly, Ben Affleck did okay as novice type of Jack Ryan in a weak way. Although, he did a good job analyzing it along the way. But you should know that is a prequel Jack Ryan film before The Hunt Of Red October film with Jack Ryan, as a fully-entered CIA analyst and newly married type, played by young Alec Baldwin.If they had filmed this movie before The Hunt Of Red October, than this entire first-run jack Ryan film sequel will be overrated, TBH, IMO.

Leofwine_draca Here's a fresh interpretation of a popular Tom Clancy novel, which mixes CIA jargon with presidential anguish into a pleasing, pulse-pounding brew. The impact of the 9/11 disaster is readily apparent in this suspenseful movie which is part disaster-film itself. The old trick of US vs. Russia (but not really) is familiar territory, but through crisp writing and engaging characters the story is given time to develop, strengthening the clichés and making everything very watchable. A strong budget leads to some very effective effects sequences, and cinematography and score are both excellent. The cast is also populated with some strong character actors – Liev Schrieber has never been better than here, as a spy; Morgan Freeman does his 'wise old mentor' role with skill, wit and relish; James Cromwell makes for a very human and believable president; even the usually bland Ben Affleck comes out good, having followed in Harrison Ford's shoes as the heroic Jack Ryan.The opening of the film sets the style well and leads us into some very dark areas. One of the major incidents in the film involves a nuclear weapon exploding in a packed US city, which makes for pretty frightening viewing. Realism seems to be 100% through and through and there are no annoying plot holes or discrepancies. The last half of the film racks up the suspense levels with tons of action and adventure, making this a film to be watched and a darned sight better than most modern fare.

Dark Jedi Well, if we start with the good. The story itself is not really too bad and if you forget the title, the mention of Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan, then the movie is decent enough. It is a reasonably well implemented thriller. Not great but worth seeing.However, the book is about Arab terrorists performing terrorist acts by means of thermonuclear devices causing the two superpowers to come to the brink of a nuclear war. The movie has replaced this foe with some nonsense story about emerging neo-Nazis wanting to take over the world. This is just utter rubbish. It is obviously a political decision by some asshole not wanting to upset the Arab community so he picks a "safe" bad guy instead. The speech where the head Nazi compares themselves with a virus was just unintelligent writing and painful to watch.Nazis are obvious bad guys and can be put to good use in movies, just as communists and Muslim terrorists and a whole bunch of other groups, but not when the original material uses another, much more logical, foe. The original foes in the book would have some force behind them in the radical Muslim community that made their plans for world takeover after the superpowers had annihilated each other at least somewhat plausible. If you ignore minor details like that there would really not be much to take over after a barrage of nuclear missiles from USA and Russian of course. But a few twisted old Nazis that sits in hiding in dark rooms cooking together this hair-brained scheme? No way! I am sad to say that whoever asshole that decided to rewrite the main adversary of this movie ruined it totally for me. I am really happy that I never watched it when it came out in the theaters but instead watched it, in a sense "for free", on my Netflix subscription.