“Jack, we have done our jobs and done them well. This fight was passed down to us and will continue with or without us. But we will always be better than the institutions we serve, and that is what matters when it matters most. There are no heroes in our profession. But occasionally there are good men. Men who act on what is right, not simply doing what they are told to do. I have not always lived my life with honor. But perhaps I have done enough to die with it. I hope the same for you.”
Witness the birth of — actually make that rebirth of –one of the most popular action heroes in literature. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan has been a character of many jobs and many faces over the years. Baldwin, Ford, Pine, and Affleck have all stepped into the role of the man who has been a soldier, an analyst, an operative, and a president. What might appear as a clear advantage for this Amazon Prime streaming television show can be just as much a liability. When you throw in the Tom Clancy novels, comic books, and fan fiction, there is a ton of Jack Ryan history that pretty much gives us a story arc from his humble beginnings to extraordinary exploits and wearing the face of a few good performers. It’s a tall order for the series and perhaps an even taller order for actor John Krasinski, who has created a nice little horror franchise with wife Emily Blunt on the side. I don’t really have the time or energy to watch streaming shows and films. There’s always a backlog here of discs that need to be reviewed, and I’ve created a rather comfortable viewing experience with my home theatre I call The Reel World. Our motto: Here there be monsters. So I have not had the opportunity to check out this show even though I’ve heard pretty solid things from my colleagues. Thanks to Paramount’s production of the series and their release of the first season on Blu-ray, I’ve finally had my chance to see what all the talk’s been about. Let’s just say, I get it.
This series obviously has to update the character from his 1980’s Cold War novel beginnings just as a couple of the films have had to. It’s the current year, and Jack Ryan (Krasinski) is really just an analyst for the CIA. He checks financial transactions and has come upon some serious activity. He believes he has stumbled onto the biggest terrorist activity since 9/11. Now he has to convince his new team commander, James Greer, played by The Wire’s own Bunk, Wendell Pierce. Greer has recently been demoted, and his new post is really something of a censure for him, so he’s not as receptive to Ryan’s enthusiasm. It doesn’t help that their first inadvertent meeting occurred on the streets with a bit of a near crash. Ryan goes over his head to freeze some bank accounts, and the resulting investigation puts the two uneasy coworkers in the field on the trail of a huge asset.
Season 1
The first season offers eight episodes in the typical cat-and-mouse kind of operation. But what isn’t so typical is how the show approaches that familiar story and investigation. We spend just as much time with the target, a man named Suleiman, played by Ali Suliman (not sure of the significance of actor/character spelling differences). Seldom has a film or series taken us so in-depth to the “bad” guy’s world or life. We learn that he and his brother were survivors of an earlier conflict and that it changed the trajectory of his life toward the radicalized world of the terrorist. We meet his family. His wife Hanin (Shihabi) is trying to leave him with their children, but he controls them with an iron hand. When she finally does find a way out, the son refuses to join his mother and sisters and runs to warn his father. This whole dynamic takes us deep inside of gender roles in this world and how new generations of both men and women find the paths that they must follow. One of the best parts of this series is how real they make this connection in both worlds. “Bad” guys are much more powerful when we understand exactly where it all comes from in both the culture and circumstances of their experiences. I can’t say enough just how compelling the two stories become.
We also get another look at the origin, of sorts, of this next Jack Ryan. We get to eavesdrop as he starts to court his future wife, Cathy, played by Abbie Cornish. That story also provides some background without having to take a lot of time to establish it all. Cathy is the daughter of an old Wall Street boss of Ryan’s. We meet him only briefly when he tries to get some inside trader info from Ryan because of his new government information. It’s a small scene that doesn’t take more than a few minutes, but it cleverly sets up the financial-world background that Ryan gave up to serve his country while also giving us the introduction we need to quickly get to the woman we know he’s going to marry. The writers on this show are brilliant at this kind of thing. In just eight short episodes, you’ll be amazed at how much story you end up getting. That also means you have to pay attention. This isn’t the kind of series you put on in the background. You miss three minutes and you’ve missed a big chunk of the story going forward. I can’t imagine anyone watching this on a cell phone screen.
The stakes are equally high. These guys have plotted biological attacks at various points in the country, and Ryan and Greer have to work together with various international assets to beat the ticking clock. I was very compelled by the course of the Ryan/Greer relationship. We know how close they will become, and both Krasinski and Pierce do a nice job of allowing that relationship to evolve slowly. The nuances of the performances and the rather instant chemistry of the actors allow you to observe how it all comes together. You won’t be able to pick a single moment and say that’s where it is. That’s a shortcut for lesser storytellers. It happens so gradually that you notice the start and end points in the series and feel like it got there organically. The show is extremely well done and deserves to be seen in this enhanced form.
Season 2
In Venezuela we find there is a power struggle. The current president is a corrupt conservative part-business-magnate who is tearing the country down. If he sounds like someone we all know, that’s no accident, and just fine with me if it weren’t so overt. Running against President Reyes (Molla) is a young upstart socialist woman whose husband was the real family power, but when he was silenced and now presumed dead, she has decided to carry on his fight. Gloria Bonalde (Umana) has the backing of the young people and sees a move to socialism as a way to save her country. Again, I don’t mind the politics and bias. If it tells a compelling story, I’m fine. But they really should have picked somewhere else to stage this political drama. Venezuela actually has lived the complete opposite. Since the economy has become nationaliz ed, it’s a perfect example of a failed state. Whatever you might think of socialism, it certainly did the opposite of work in that particular country. So going in I felt two strikes against the show before I even got through the first of the new eight episodes. So did anything save any of what was my choice as the best new show of the year last season?
Fortunately, the series continues to sport a solid production. Many shows like to say they are really a mini-film each episode, but that phrase is so often abused that it’s quite meaningless. But this show is shot very much like a feature film, and those production values remain high and more than a little engaging. The incredible environments bring alive these South American locations without actually going there. They retain a high level of authenticity, and along with high-end cinematography, you could not ask for a series to be more immersive. I feel rather badly for all of you folks who might have only experienced this stuff on a 4-inch cell phone screen.
Jack Ryan continues to be pretty much a man out of his depth who manages to figure out what others can’t see. His relationship with Greer and chemistry with The Wire veteran actor Wendel Pierce continues to be one of the best elements of the series. The two work incredibly well together, and I hope they don’t split these guys up for long periods at a time. It’s the emotional heart of the show, and it truly helps make the high-stakes situations that much more important because we care about these guys.
The season mostly deals with the corrupt Reyes and all that he will do to stay in power. Ryan and the team try to find the connection with these cargo ships, and when we discover what’s really going on, it’s not a bring-down that it’s not about weapons after all. Ryan travels to England to track down a killer who is involved in the plot and took down his friend Senator Jim Moreno, played by The Shield nemesis Benito Martinez. The Senator is killed in a scene virtually ripped from Clear And Present Danger and pulled off just as well on this streaming show’s budget.
There are some very interesting new cast members this season. Michael Kelly plays the Venezuelan station chief Mike November, who ends up fitting perfectly into the chemistry I already talked about with the leads. They make a wonderful trio, and I would love to see the character return with them next season. The Mummy himself, Arnold Vosloo, plays a mercenary, and we get to see his true mercenary spirit, as he’s willing to work for either side when there’s enough money to be had no matter how bad the previous beating might have been. He’s underused throughout and only has a couple of episodes where he really shines.
Season 3
The season begins with a 1969 prologue that takes us to a secret weapons facility deep in the heart of the USSR. The project is being ended with prejudice. The acts of the officers and soldiers at that moment start them on different courses that reach out to the future in ways that will put our hero Jack Ryan on the run.
Ryan meets with a contact who tells him that there is a dangerous new weapon being developed in Russia. The intel leads him to a Russian ship and a scientist who wishes to defect. The problem is there is a team of Russian agents who aren’t going to let that happen, and the mission falls apart in Greece where the scientist is killed and Ryan has been framed for the murder of a police officer. The CIA gives him that infamous red notice, and Ryan finds himself running from Russian agents, the local cops, and even his own people. At the head of that manhunt is Elisabeth Wright (Gabriel). She eventually turns to Greer (Pierce), and with Ryan doing some globetrotting to prove his intel that there is indeed a new secret weapon, they eventually get her to believe that Ryan might be right. The guys in Washington are going to be a harder sell, so pretty much all of this action is a small team of agents going a little rogue to uncover the truth and protect the country. I know what you’re thinking. Exactly when does Tom Cruise come into the picture? No, Tom won’t be along for this ride, but there’s going to be plenty of action, as Ryan discovers the weapon that was restarted from 1969 is by a group of Russians who are equally rogue.
What develops here is a wonderful story of characters that is less about enemies and countries. We see two characters who were there in 1969 and how one of them is driven to pick up the pieces and start a war while the other tries to stop it by being a leak to Ryan while keeping his own head and power. It’s a story of assassination of Ministers of Defense and the idea of following orders. I like this rather more realistic look at the remnants of the Cold War, and it makes for compelling television and the best story of the three seasons. The show goes deep inside these relationships and morals and brings us out on the other side with more questions than answers for our real-world lives, and that intrigued the heck out of me.
“All due respect, this isn’t the first time I wasn’t in Russia.”
Ryan ends up deep in Russia to uncover the truth along with friend Mike November, played again by Michael Kelly. These two have wonderful chemistry, and I’m glad to see they always find a way to get these guys back together. Also the enemy itself isn’t Russia, but a rogue element that like Putin wants to get that old USSR band back together. I guess you could call it a mission from God. There’s a really nice callback to Hunt For Red October when Ryan is trying to convince a battleship captain not to start a war. There’s the drop from the helicopter and his attempt to explain the reasoning from the other guys. It was a nice touch.
Jack Ryan continues to be pretty much a man out of his depth who manages to figure out what others can’t see. His relationship with Greer and chemistry with The Wire veteran actor Wendel Pierce continues to be one of the best elements of the series. The two work incredibly well together, and I hope they don’t split these guys up for long periods at a time like they did in this season. It’s the emotional heart of the show, and it truly helps make the high-stakes situations that much more important, because we care about these guys.
Season 4
“Members of this honorable committee, I not so long ago stood in front of you, and I promised to eliminate any compromised operations that were left behind by our predecessors. I also said that this agency could not and should not survive if it were ever to serve any other interests other than those of the American people. But I admit I had ulterior motives. My real goal, however naïve, was to prove to those American people that our system of government as a whole could, once again, be trusted. I failed.”
As the final season kicks off, we find that there has been some housecleaning at the CIA. Jack Ryan was now facing nomination hearings to be the new Deputy Director of the CIA. His partner in this effort was Elizabeth Wright, who was nominated as Director of the CIA. Ryan promises to weed out the corruption and begins to target those operations that needed to be shut down, but one such operation was pushing back. He is approached at gunpoint by one of the operatives caught up in a bad situation. He is Domingo Chavez, played wonderfully by Michael Pena. Chavez has imbedded himself in one of Mexico’s drug cartels where he uncovers a corrupt operation to bring dirty bombs and sophisticated triggers into the country. Before we know it, Jack has resigned his nomination, putting up our old friend from The Wire Wendell Pierce’s James Greer. This sets that character up for the plot arc found in the films and books. He’s also trying to help Ryan by tracking down the money trail for this operation. It leads to him getting stabbed and left for dead in the river. But Pierce and Greer are made of sterner stuff.
The real action for these last six episodes has Ryan once again hooking up with old cohort Michael Kelly, and the three make a pretty compelling team as they go all over the globe to put a stop to the plan. Of course, they do, but it all happens too fast this year. I loved watching the trio out there working together, and I’m disappointed it’s going to end here. What I can say is it ends with the kind of quality the show exhibited from the start.
The whole season is found here in one place, or you can buy them independently. If you waited until now to pick them up … good choice. It’s a quality collection on Blu-ray, to be sure.
Video
is presented in its original streaming aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The 1080p image is arrived at with an AVC MPEG-4 codec. It’s hard for me to imagine that people are watching this on their mobile devices. It certainly wasn’t filmed with that kind of presentation in mind. It would be easy to even live up to just broadcast standards, but this image presentation is much better than that. The detail here rivals anything I’ve seen on television. Production design here is up to box office film standards. Black levels are inky and deep with plenty of nice shadow definition. Some of the Syrian and other international establishment shots are like a beautiful travelogue. I don’t know what it looked like on your phone, but wait until you see it on a large screen.
Audio
The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track was another wonderful surprise. Some of you heard this through half-inch speakers. Are you in for a treat here! This goes above and beyond your typical television audio presentation. Surrounds are live with chatter and immersive ear candy. The action scenes surround you in an inescapable wall of sound. Subs are like nothing television usually has to offer. I bet your phone didn’t shake a room like this presentation does. The dialog always comes through cleanly. But again, it’s the subs and surrounds that truly astound here.
Special Features
Only some deleted scenes.
Final Thoughts:
Everything about this series stands up to any of the production, acting, writing, or cinematography of the films. They don’t cut corners here, and I keep looking for the moment the series might actually surpass the films in at least some of these qualities. “We are way beyond that now.”
