I found this to be an enjoyable flick. It is slow getting started, but once it gets up to speed, it really gets moving. This is not a sock-em-up action film, but rather a political chess game-style thriller. And thrill it does. As you go deeper into the film, you watch breathlessly, wondering just how close these people will come to blowing up the world before the one man with the truth (Affleck's Jack Ryan)can overcome obstacles in his way deliver the truth to the people who REALLY need to hear it.
Morgan Freeman is easily the top choice for best performance as Mr Cabot, the CIA Director. It's when he finally gets teamed up with Affleck's Ryan that the picture gets moving. As for Ben Affleck, he plays Jack Ryan as if he were Ben Affleck. To put it another way: If someone were to make a movie called "The Ben Affleck Story", Ben Affleck would be the ideal actor to play the lead. Whether or not you think he did a good job playing Ryan depends greatly on whether or not you like Ben Affleck.
The president and the balance of his cabinet are played by some of the biggest character actors in Hollywood. James Cromwell, Ron Rifkin, Bruce McGill, and the guy who played the game show host in "Magnolia"; they all put on fine performances. Liev Schreiber offers up quite the cool cat as John Clark (I believe they are preparing a movie for Rainbow Six so they can spin Clark off into his own series).
As to the re-vamping of the story to make Ryan a much younger man, I thought it worked well. The problem with keeping Ford as the lead is the man is in his 60s now, and the only way to have kept him believable throughout the book series would have been to make them all consecutively, and that wasn't going to happen.
Also, I think that some of the criticisms levelled at this movie are unfounded. Even withstanding the 9/11 terror attacks, this movie presents a realistic scenario.
At any rate, if you enjoy taut political thrillers, go see this movie.
I gave it 7/10
Morgan Freeman is easily the top choice for best performance as Mr Cabot, the CIA Director. It's when he finally gets teamed up with Affleck's Ryan that the picture gets moving. As for Ben Affleck, he plays Jack Ryan as if he were Ben Affleck. To put it another way: If someone were to make a movie called "The Ben Affleck Story", Ben Affleck would be the ideal actor to play the lead. Whether or not you think he did a good job playing Ryan depends greatly on whether or not you like Ben Affleck.
The president and the balance of his cabinet are played by some of the biggest character actors in Hollywood. James Cromwell, Ron Rifkin, Bruce McGill, and the guy who played the game show host in "Magnolia"; they all put on fine performances. Liev Schreiber offers up quite the cool cat as John Clark (I believe they are preparing a movie for Rainbow Six so they can spin Clark off into his own series).
As to the re-vamping of the story to make Ryan a much younger man, I thought it worked well. The problem with keeping Ford as the lead is the man is in his 60s now, and the only way to have kept him believable throughout the book series would have been to make them all consecutively, and that wasn't going to happen.
Also, I think that some of the criticisms levelled at this movie are unfounded. Even withstanding the 9/11 terror attacks, this movie presents a realistic scenario.
At any rate, if you enjoy taut political thrillers, go see this movie.
I gave it 7/10