Trailer Link

Release Date:

January 17, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.”

Trailer: C / B / B- / D+ / D+ (4) / B

Review: (#1 & #2) The first design is more contemplative than a normal action film poster typically is, though it has the gun in the foreground and the locale vaguely in the background. It may not be too exciting, but it’s better than design #4. The second poster is much more creative than I would have expect from this film or associated with this premise. It creates a maze-like facade that adds an interesting element to the film’s concept.

(#3 & #4) The third and fourth posters are virtually identically. The two “supporting” characters are smaller in the fourth design and the color scheme is turned from the soft blues of the third and employing the harsh yellows of the character designs. This is all very bland design work, except that the third poster adds something that makes it more interesting by design, that is the maze motif of the second poster. While it isn’t the creative hit the second design is, at least it makes an effort, which the fourth design cannot claim.

(#5-#8) These design play with the four central characters of the film: agent, lover, mentor, villain. The three-word descriptors of each are interesting, but don’t seem to have any real purpose. The backgrounds are unique but visually dull with our actors taking up an unnecessary amount of visual space.

(#9) A foreign poster being better than most of the American designs? That’s unheard of! Sarcasm aside, this is a more visually striking design, setting an action/spy film into the action/adventure/fantasy mold of films like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. It may not be the standard style of such films as Jack Ryan, but it’s visually distinctive enough to be noteworthy.

Trailer: C+

Review: If you’ve seen one spy film in the last forty years, you’ve seen this one. Jack Ryan is one of the most popular literary characters in the genre. While he’s not quite on the James Bond caliber, before Jason Bourne became a movie phenomenon, Jack Ryan would have been the second most popular. As such, you expect there to be something that makes this character seem new, fresher, more interesting than those other two, but the trailer sets this up as an amalgam of James Bond and Jason Bourne along the narrative structure lines of the Mission: Impossible films. I’m sure it will be a hit, but regurgitating the same material in different guises is not good storytelling.

Oscar Prospects:

While the film will almost assuredly not be a major contender, the typical tech categories will still be in play. Sound Mixing and Sound Editing are possible, though with a January release, they are doubtful.

Revisions:

(January 12, 2014) Original

Additional Posters