I cannot figure out John Krasinski. On the one hand, he’s “Jim” from “The Office,” a character so lovable and iconic, he tapped into an entire nation of impish good guys. OTOH, he clearly loves seeing himself as something of a gun-wielding badass. I would say in the same breath that anyone who could play Jim the way he did is a force of good … and yet, also, anyone who helped create 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a force of evil. Hmmmm.
Then there’s the directorial stuff. A Quiet Place was brilliant! A unique vision of horror and human values. And yet, IF, was so iffy, it’s hard to believe this man has any understanding of children or parenting.
And now John Krasinski does the Jack Ryan thing as much as he does anything else. Jack Ryan is a unique hero – born to the Right-Wing world of spies, violence, and Armageddon and, yet, a force of temperance and democratic values at the same time. I suppose Krasinski is all of it: the lovable hero, the temperate hero, the brilliant hero, and -at the same time- a RW villain, a passing artist, and a guy just guessing at what fatherhood ought to be.
You know that meme where “Jim from The Office” looks at the camera and posts two thoughts on a posterboard? And everybody has turned in “Jim from The Office” thoughts as if he’s constantly on the “common sense” side of whatever extreme position you hold? It’s like in real life, that’s exactly who he is; a guy waiting for his POV to be dictated by whomever manipulated the AI last.
I suppose that’s not quite fair, but, boy, John, pick a lane. Oh, and pick a new project while you’re at it. The Jack Ryan thing is getting tired, as one can see clearly in this yawnful end-of-civilization thriller Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War. There’s a reason why these things don’t come out in theaters.
Jack Ryan (Kasinski) begins this one as a civilian, which lasts about as long as the opening credits. Recruited to extracted intel in Dubai, well, you just know they don’t pull a highly decorated agent back into active duty to be a mule. That just doesn’t make sense. Turns out, people are dying over Project Starling, a fairly standard “inception of WWIII” 
starter kit. Can Jack Ryan thwart the bad guys and quell both MI6 and the CIA in time to avoid disaster? Well, gee, what do you think?
Unfortunately, the “end of the world” plot is hardly new and neither is the “whom can I trust?” plot nor the “pulling the burned-out operative back into action” plot. This film feels less unique and more like a compilation of scenes from other tired films. Films that bank on quelling a nuclear conflict should immediately remind of how clichéd they are, should they? Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War is tired and played out. IT’s not terrible, but you sure remember it the next day. It really needed a hint of anything that would make it unique.
There once was an operative named Ryan
A boy scout, for him there’s no lyin’
Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford
Affleck, Pine, and now I’m bored
Krasinski’s take has me just short of cryin’
Rated R, 105 Minutes
Director: Andrew Bernstein
Writer: Aaron Rabin, John Krasinski, Noah Oppenheim
Genre: Yadda Yadda World ending yadda yadda
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: John Krasinki’s mom
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Seen it”
