Kevin Costner’ssecond act as the patriarch ofYellowstonehas catapulted the Oscar winner back into the spotlight, but fans looking to dig deeper into his filmography are now dusting off one of his more overlooked titles –Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. The 2014 action-thriller reboot, long written off as a mid-tier spy flick with a mediocreRotten Tomatoesscore (55%, to be exact), is suddenly a hit again. Eleven years later,Shadow Recruithas cracked the Top 10 on Pluto TV’s free streaming charts, sitting comfortably at #9 as of this week. It’s a surprising revival for a film that didn’t exactly set the world on fire when it premiered – but the Costner-effect might just be enough to give this CIA story a second wind.
BeforeJohn Krasinski’s Ryan was globetrotting on Prime Video,Chris Pine(Star Trek) took a swingat the role in this grounded reboot ofTom Clancy’s most iconic character. Directed byThorhelmerKenneth Branagh,Shadow Recruittakes us back to thebeginning of Jack Ryan’s career– from his days as a wounded Marine to his recruitment as a CIA analyst investigating global financial threats. Costner plays William Harper, the grizzled CIA mentor who pulls Ryan into the field for his first real mission. Together, they uncover a Russian plot (classic Clancy) that could bring down the U.S. economy. Branaghpulls double duty as directorand villain, playing Viktor Cherevin, a shadowy oligarch straight out of Cold War central casting.
Was ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’ Any Good?
“Divisive”is probably the nicest way to describe the critical response. While Pine and Costner got decent notices,the rest of the film was seen as playing it too safe – and too old-school– for modern spy thrillers. Branagh’s direction was labeled flat, and his villain performance wasn’t exactly subtle.Collider’s Blu-ray reviewsummed it up bluntly: “The film’s dismal box office performance probably meanswe won’t be seeing much more of this new Jack Ryan.”
And we didn’t.Shadow Recruitquietly died at the box office, making just over $135 million globally on a reported $60 million budget – not catastrophic, but certainly not enough to launch a franchise. Still, even then, some viewers appreciated the attempt at a throwback.The film leans into Clancy’s Cold War paranoia, with Russian villains and tense meetings in darkened boardrooms, instead of globe-hopping car chases and gadget-laced showdowns. In an era of spy movies defined byMission: ImpossibleandSkyfall, this one was more about spreadsheets and subtlety. Sort of.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruitis streaming for free on Pluto TV and also available on Paramount+.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
