‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War’ Review: A Solid, Safe, Espionage Endeavor

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is back in Ghost War, the first full-length movie starring John Krasinski as the famed CIA operative. The movie, directed by Andrew Bernstein (who directed episodes of the TV series), premieres on Prime Video on Wednesday. If you’re at all familiar with the four-season series that preceded it, you’re about to get more of the same. Well, sorta.

When Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan TV series premiered, I was all in. Truthfully, I am a sucker for espionage stories and spy thrillers, and I write about TV, so having Clancy’s iconic character make the leap to episodic storytelling was a no-brainer for me to tune in. I didn’t stick with it, though. 

Jack Ryan feels more at home in self-contained, big-budget action films. Just look at the previous iterations of the character as played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. Well, three years after the original series concluded, we’re getting a new Jack Ryan movie — except, it’s not in theaters.

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Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War picks up with Ryan, who, after exiting the espionage business, is brought back into the fray by former CIA boss James Greer (Wendell Pierce) to investigate a terror threat unlike any he’s ever faced before. Ryan is soon back on a mission with the battle-tested, wisecracking Mike November (Michael Kelly) and must contend with MI6 officer Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller), who becomes a part of their rag-tag outfit in the field.

The threat in question turns out to be superpersonal for Greer and exposes some unknown skeletons he probably wished would’ve remained in his closet. Betrayal, redemption and a whole lot of violent justice transpire throughout the story; to explain more would enter into spoiler territory and would be a disservice to the movie, which is a solid yet safe espionage endeavor. 

I should note that you don’t need to know anything about the Jack Ryan TV series to enjoy the movie. As I mentioned above, I never finished watching the original show, and Ghost War works well as a standalone story, with all the necessary narrative details introduced early on to help newcomers nestle in and enjoy the story. 

That said, the movie doesn’t reinvent the genre wheel. Honestly, it doesn’t need to. In its four seasons, the TV series established the dynamic of these characters and solidified Krasinski as a formidable action star. Throughout watching the movie, I still found myself in awe of his ability to toe the line between charismatic comedy and no-nonsense hero. 

I never thought I’d see Jim from The Office sporting a semiautomatic weapon and fighting terrorists, but here we are. And it never gets old.

Admittedly, that visual could’ve ultimately failed in the wrong hands. But Krasinski has had enough time in the character’s shoes to bring this story to life authentically. Plus, he also had a hand in writing Ghost War, alongside screenwriter Aaron Rabin, who wrote for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which absolutely helps.

It also helps that the chemistry between Krasinski, Pierce and Kelly is baked into this project. Their camaraderie does a lot of the heavy lifting and effortlessly invites the audience along for the ride. Miller may be a newcomer to Tom Clancy’s world, but she fits right in, and her steadfast energy keeps the trio on their toes. There’s a will-they-won’t-they dynamic between Emma and Ryan that adds excitement to their in-the-field teamwork.

As for the big bad of the movie, Max Beesley steps into the one-layered role of Liam Crown, a former teammate of Greer’s turned terrorist who makes some awful, yet predictable, choices. Mind you, Beesley does a solid job as Crown; there’s no mustache-twirling here, but he still partakes in some villainous monologuing, which is a little tiresome.

Taking the story to Dubai yields some riveting action sequences, with the street-level scenes really expanding this movie beyond the TV show’s playing field. The dialogue is louder, the repartee is punchier, and it feels like there’s more heart driving the movie than I remember seeing episodically. 

Even though there were four TV seasons behind these characters, the movie establishes new emotional stakes to make it feel engaging and fresh. 

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War satisfactorily pushes the narrative forward, and while it doesn’t end with any sort of cliffhanger or post-credits sequence, there’s an open-endedness to its conclusion that makes me wonder if this is the first entry in a new Jack Ryan movie franchise. If so, maybe the next one will hit theaters, too. One can only hope.