Amazon Prime Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

kalkamel

Master Member

Anyone else watching this? I'm three episodes in an enjoying it more than I thought I would.
 
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My wife and I are 3 eps in. It's good. Entertaining. It's...not particularly faithful to the original Clancy universe, but I wasn't expecting it to be, really. If you are...don't bother with this, because it deviates fairly substantially from the source material. But then, ever since Harrison Ford stopped playing the role, they've not really cared much for the source material and have consistently tried to portray Ryan as much younger than he is in the books.
 
Deviates substantially enough that I don't think it would have gotten the green light if Clancy was still alive. But at least Krazinski makes a more likeable Ryan than Chris Pine.

I find the Matice/Garth character intriguing. I wonder if he is who I think he is?
 
:D
I binge watched it over a couple of nights and really enjoyed it. He does spend a lot of time staring at the camera with his nostrils flared though.
 
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But...it's Jim from the office...

I'm glad I don't have that problem, since the only version of The Office I watched is the Gervais version. Although I do admit every time I watch The Hobbit, I would go "It's Tim from The Office!"
 
Deviates substantially enough that I don't think it would have gotten the green light if Clancy was still alive. But at least Krazinski makes a more likeable Ryan than Chris Pine.

I find the Matice/Garth character intriguing. I wonder if he is who I think he is?

Ohhh I think there's every likelihood that's exactly who he is.

Although I suspect that means we'll never see an adaptation of "Without Remorse."
 
I watched the whole series over labor day weekend. Yeah, I think that's who he is too. I would be really surprised if they named him, but I was hoping they would at some point.

The series overall suffered some TV show cliche, and some PC nonsense here and there. But overall I enjoyed it. It falls short of what I was hoping to see. I was really hoping for more of a gritty unflinching look at terrorism and violence. Got more "Jack Ryan goes on a date" and "Look, the bad guy has a family, he's layered" then I really wanted. And the entire subplot with the drone pilot could have been left out of the show and it would not have hurt it one little bit.

I enjoyed the dynamic with Greer, I especially enjoyed Timothy Hutton in the show. Nice surprise. But yeah, "Garth" was my favorite character.
 
Well, if he does turn out to be that guy, then it would be different from the one I pictured from the books. I'd imagined him to be bigger and more no-nonsense, kinda like Toby Stephens' character in 13 Hours, that other Krazinski vehicle.
 
we'll see. I'm 2 episodes in, and agree that it is basically Homeland without Danes.

I am a little disappointed, but that is just due to Red October being my favourite (totally biased, and i admit it)
Alec Baldwin looked fantastic in the new Mission Impossible, and I would prefer seeing him back in the saddle over anyone else new.

it'll probably never happen though, but i can hope.
 
To be fair, the genre of Homeland and 24 kind of evolved out of the Clancy Cold-War-Era thrillers like Red October and Patriot Games. So, there's going to be a lot of similarity in terms of vibe between them. The older stuff was less kinetic, but so was moviemaking in general. It was also less shooty and more talky, but...so was moviemaking in general, at least within the spy thriller genre.

I actually think your best bet for espionage stuff now is shows like The Americans. Watching that made me wish we could get a similar adaptation of Cardinal of the Kremlin that was actually set c. 1985 or so.
 
As much as I like this, this is not the Jack Ryan I've read and watched since Tom Clancy first wrote about him.
 
As a reimagining, I'm okay with this. Story moves along well, though I agree - the drone pilot side story makes absolutely no sense. Neither the swinging nor the highly dubious ability to travel within a war zone.

Wish they'd left Greer as an Admiral. His character lacks depth without that background.
 
I thought the drone side story would tie in to the main story, but that was just weird. I mean it's an interesting, if not novel topic, but seemed pretty out of place there... There was a couple more weird choices like that, including the fact that you never see Mueller again after she exits the elevator. I'm glad they avoided the hero rides into the sunset with the girl cliche ending, but still, if you are not familiar with the Jack Ryan "mythology", you would be wondering what happened to her and will she be back. Weird scenaristic choice.
Other than that I found it fairly enjoyable. I'll definitely tune in for season 2.
 
Although I'm only up to about Episode 5 or 6, I think that it's likely they're setting up plot threads for a second season. I'll spoiler tag the rest.

"Stanley" and "Blanche Dubois" in particular (the two swingers from the episode where they beat up the drone guy) are almost guaranteed to come back for three reasons.

1. The names of the characters are those of the main characters in A Streetcar Named Desire. That almost certainly suggests that they're cover names (albeit fairly obvious ones), or at least that they are names selected for the particular assignment if not an overall assignment.

2. The "laws of casting" kind of demand it. Lee Tergesen, who played Stanley, is too high-profile of an actor to just stick in a one-off role of no real consequence. He's the kind of guy you cast with the expectation of him coming back as a recurring character.

3. The entire sequence just...made no sense otherwise. Who are these people? What do they want with "Tombstone"? What's the point of the interaction at all? I get that he's suffering and he goes out to try to blank out his sorrows and his mind, but...why go through all the detail of him being picked up by a swinger couple who then beat the hell out of him and just leave? Like...what's the point of that?

I think it makes more sense if they're supposed to be agents themselves, looking to turn Tombstone into an asset. See also, The Americans.
 
Solo4114 That would make a lot of sense. But again, it's the kind of things you have to foreshadow a bit in the season 1 already, because right now it just does seem completely random ! Too much set up is bad, but too little is no good either...
 
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Bumping this to see if anyone is watching season 2?

I've always been a fan of Clancy's written work, and especially the characters in the books revolving around Jack Ryan. I was pretty disappointed by the first season, as the Jack Ryan in the series has very little in common with the one in the books, or even the previous movie adaptations.

But, my wife likes it, so we started watching season 2, and are about 3 episodes in. Well, Clancy must be rolling over in his grave... Ryan is even more incompetent, and does stupid things that make little sense for the character. Greer is a selfish pinhead that has none of the gravitas of the original. Clancy's books and characters were well researched, and their actions grounded in reality. None of that is present in season 2 so far. There is a total ripoff of a scene from Clear and Present Danger... It's a shame that such wonderful source material has been reduced to typical TV nonsense.
 
I keep meaning to get into this... Trailers in theaters lately look alright.

Although I suspect that means we'll never see an adaptation of "Without Remorse."

One of my fave books... Read 3 times in my teens. I have no idea if it holds up now or would be cheese.

That said, I'd be curious to know what character you're thinking...

Also don't know if that book would even by adaptable... so much story! Could end up being another "Clear and Present Danger" which was like watching a trailer for the book.

I remember a time Keanu was up for John Kelly....
 
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