Yesterday we saw the first ever poster (and new title) for the upcoming Tom Clancy adaptation Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, but today we get the real deal preview. Paramount Pictures has unveiled the first trailer for the movie over on Yahoo!, and I must say that the film looks like it could be pretty excellent.
Based on a script by Adam Cozad and David Koepp and directed by Kenneth Branagh, the new film takes us back to the earliest years of the titular character's career in the CIA, working for the Financial Intelligence Unit. Working undercover in Moscow for a company owned by a mysterious billionaire (Branagh), Jack (Chirs Pine) discovers a terrorist plot that would shut down the entire United States economy. Working with his handler (Kevin Costner), the hero must work to save millions of lives from an incredible threat. Keira Knightley will play Jack's finance Cathy in the movie and the supporting cast also includes Game of Thrones' Nonso Anozie (who you can see fighting Jack in the beginning of the trailer) and David Paymer.
This month last year I actually flew out to London to visit the set of the film with a small group of other journalists, and while there we had the chance to talk to both the filmmakers and the stars about the film and the new approach to the famous action hero. Pine, who has some experience playing pop culture icon characters having portrayed Captain James T. Kirk in two Star Trek movies, had a good deal to say about the direction of the character, telling us,
“There are certain things that are kind of fundamental to Jack… He’s more comfortable in the study; he’s more comfortable with his books; he’s more comfortable putting a puzzle together; he’d rather spend a Sunday at home then go out – he’s a homebody. There’s a comfort in isolation, but there’s an intense confidence in his own abilities to figure stuff out and work through things in his own mind. So it’s balancing that kind of everyman with the thoughtfulness and the ability to be by himself and comfortable in isolation.”
And from the look of the trailer Jack Ryan can kick a little ass too. Not only does this movie look like a slick thriller, it has some interesting, cool-looking action sequences. Branagh got a good taste of blockbuster filmmaking when he did Thor in 2011, and it would appear he's applied those lessons well here.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is scheduled to hit theaters on Christmas Day this year, but are you looking forward to it? Answer our poll and tell us what you think in the comments below.
This poll is no longer available.
