Jack Ryan Season 1 (2018) Review

A New Jack Ryan film has just come out and I feel like in order to get the best experience out of it, that I would go back and watch the show that came first. Over the last couple of days, I have watched the first season of Jack Ryan and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a CIA Analyst thrown into the world of the front line as he has to take on a dangerous threat. 

Main Character

John Krasinski plays the Titular Character and he does a great job in the role. He adds plenty of depth to the role of Ryan and I really wanted to root for him in this role. There is a lot of charm and charisma to him and he was certainly a great choice as Ryan. 

Supporting Characters

Wendell Pierce plays James Greer and I liked his character and the relationship that he has with Ryan. It starts off as you expect but I liked how it develops and you clearly see a mutual respect being built there. 

Abbie Cornish is Cathy Mueller and she is the love interest and I liked her in this role. Her and Krasinski have excellent chemistry and their scenes together adds more depth to Jack Ryan. Though her role in the main story feels a bit of a stretch. 

Ali Suliman plays the villain here and I thought he was a pretty good bad guy. Okay, he is somewhat your traditional Muslim villain. But the show does give him some character development that makes him a more interesting character. 

Dina Shihabi plays Hanin and they give her plenty of development and she was good in her role. She is a strong character and I thought she filled her role really well. 

Story

The story is interesting, learning more about Ryan throughout is well done and this is a good character study. I am a fan of investigatory shows and this show did a really good job of connecting the dots and making you guess along with the characters. But, upon the ending of the show, I do think that it became a bit paint by numbers and predictable which is a shame considering it was interesting throughout and there is a storyline here, that I have no idea why it was included as it leads to absolutely nothing. 

Script

The script is really good, it has some strong writing and a really good balance between drama and humour. These characters and situation are interesting and the writing rises it above some of the basic ideas. I also liked how the foreign characters spoke their own language to each other which is something we just don't see much.  

Style

The style of the film is pretty cool. There are some decent action scenes and it travels around the globe well keeping locations interesting. However, I do think there are some pacing issues with the show and I think by focusing the story a bit more, those middle episodes could have been a bit better.

Overall 

Overall, Jack Ryan Season 1 is a great season of television. It has good performances and an engaging enough tale to keep you interested and is worth a watch. 

Rating - 8/10