After finishing few TV series that I was catching up, as usual I wanted to try a new one. Since I did not want to watch a 20+ episodes/season series which would take a long time, I chose this one which only had 8 episodes and it seemed entertaining plus it had a good rating (though sometimes nowadays it may translate differently to me due to some differing opinions/taste). Anyway, I started and finished it only in 1 day. So here goes.
Brief Story Line
Jack Ryan (John Krasinski - A Quiet Place, The Hollars etc) was a former marine who now worked as an analyst at the CIA in the Terror Finance Arms Division (T-FAD). During his work, he spotted some transactions that maybe related to terrorist activity. However, his new boss Jim Greer (Wendell Pierce - The Wire, The Odd Couple TV series etc) was very skeptical and wanted to investigate the matter cautiously. It would later on be revealed that Jack's suspicion was justified and the terrorist referred to as Suleiman (Ali Suliman - The Kingdom, Body of Lies etc) was indeed real and dangerous.
Suleiman turned out to be a family man with his wife Hanin (Dina Shihabi) and three children. Meanwhile Jack also had a thing going on with Doctor Cathy Mueller (Abbie Cornish - Geostorm, Seven Psychopaths etc). As the story continued, Jack with his boss would have to race against time to stop whatever Suleiman was planning to do.
So what would happen to them? Find them all in this exciting suspenseful action thriller series.
End of Brief Story Line
OK, when I watched the first episode which had around 1 hour duration, I thought the early part was too slow and uneventful, but once the story passed the half hour mark it became so much faster with an ending that was truly awesome. I felt that the pilot episode definitely successful in creating intriguing moment and excitement for us. The latter episodes would also have the same effect of suspense, mystery and very entertaining.
However, once I reached the fifth & sixth episodes, I felt the series got the tone and pace down a notch. But it was not making the series become uninteresting. It probably was intended for us to catch our breath a bit and enjoy the more dramatic approach. By the end of the 6th episode though, it would be suspenseful till the climax in 8th episode.
This series had a very good story development, wonderful characters with sufficient background story for us to enjoy and it had got many great action sequences. The first episode reminded me of a John Krasinski's action movie 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi which I thought was good in the action part. Aside from those qualities, the series also had some complex story and even have some drama plus romance. There were few love making scenes with 1 of them rather explicit. So this series more suitable for adults. Some of the topics shown might be a bit sensitive, though I felt it was not intended as an insult but more like a reality check.
In addition to the 5 main cast, the series also had some recurring characters & guest stars such as Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, Leverage TV series etc) as CIA deputy director, Matt McCoy (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle etc) as Dr. Nadler, Haaz Sleiman as Ali, John Magaro (Overlord etc) as Lt. Victor Polizzi and many others. Unfortunately though, I personally did not think there was any need to put too much screen time for Victor as I thought it did not provide any really useful addition to the main story line. Perhaps it was just to add some more dramatized effects.
Jack Ryan was based on the character from novels written by Tom Clancy and it was such a well known character and successful novels that there have been 4 actors who portrayed him prior to John Krasinski. We got Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and the latest one was by Chris Pine in 2014 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. With Clancy himself being 1 of the co-producers (which included among others Michael Bay), I believed that this time Kransinski's performance should satisfy him. Btw, this series was created by Carlton Cuse (who had previously created series like Nash Bridges, Martial Law and also show front-runner for Lost) together with Graham Roland (who co-produced series like Fringe, Almost Human etc). So with those huge names, it was no wonder that the series was quite a success.
Overall I thought that this was a good action thriller series. I loved the action sequence and the suspense & thrills during most of the whole season. I also felt that for a TV series, the action part were done very seriously that it had a sense of an action movie rather than series. With a very short 8 episodes for this first season, it was a perfect choice to spend your day in front of TV (a total of 6+ hours to finish). I had quite a great time enjoying this series even if it did slowed down a bit in the second half and the appearance of a confusingly rather non connected character. I even had a sense of suspense I felt like when I watched my favorite series which had similar tone such as 24 or Homeland (at least the first 3 seasons).
So if you are looking for an entertaining short series filled with high octane action scenes with some touches of drama and thriller, then this one is for you.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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