Harrison Ford doesn't even have a cameo in this movie. Neither does Alec Baldwin, for that matter. So, this is the first reboot that Chris Pine headlined that did not have any of the original actors from the associated franchise. It's probably a good thing - a complete break from the lineage that lets them do whatever they want without restrictions that come with calling back to source material.
Chris Pine, playing Jack Ryan, does a very good job with the relatively cookie-cutter role. He starts off as a soldier with aspirations of intelligence work, becomes a hero by saving his buddies, overcomes his injuries with the help of his sexy doctor, and joins the CIA to do shadowy stuff that only HE can do.
Keira Knightley plays the aforementioned sexy doctor. She plays an American and not entirely convincingly. I've seen her in quite a few movies before, and she usually brings a respectable amount of acting talent with her, but the words do no, to my ears, come across convincingly as American. Her acting is very good other than the disappointing accent. And, as her role is to be that of the sexy doctor, she brings the sexy.
Kenneth Branagh is the big loser in the movie. He starts his Russian accent rolling, and he doesn't know where to end it. As a result, he says some lines that have way too many rolled consonants and is generally just not believable. He is the bad guy in the movie, and he is also the director. I suspect he was elbow deep in casting, as no one in their right minds would have cast him in this role. I'd rather have seen an aging Yakov Smirnoff in the sinister Russian bad guy role.
Kevin Costner comes here to be the CIA boss that recruits Jack and gives him his missions, is his handler, and is also his backup in the field. The character is a little unrealistic, but they didn't want to take the time to develop a whole bunch of other characters, so they just shoved every general task to him to handle. It's a bit nutty, but Kevin has migrated to the elder statesman roles fairly well, so I guess they could have done worse.
Action was pretty good
Directing was okay
Effects were excellent
Cinematography was very good
Acting was generally good
3.25/5