History that Jack built
John Krasinski’s take on Tom Clancy’s famous character — CIA analyst Jack Ryan — focuses more on his brain thank his brawn
Quick: What’s the first franchise you think of involving a patriotic government staffer who has to beat up bad guys in order to foil international conspiracies, and who has been played by several actors over the course of decades? Bond? James Bond?
Sure, but let’s not forget Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst who just wants to sit at a desk, and is the centrepiece of several best-selling Tom Clancy military thrillers.
Now Ryan is back and being portrayed by John Krasinski in Tom
Clancy’s Jack Ryan, an Amazon Prime Video show. The eight-episode series presents the first TV version of the humble analyst turned world-saving
hero, following several films in which the character has been rebooted and reimagined.
The first on-screen Ryan was Alec Baldwin, in 1990s The Hunt for Red
October. He was followed by Harrison Ford in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994); Ben Affleck
in The Sum of All Fears (2002); and
Chris Pine in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
(2014).
While most of the films received mixed reviews, the interest in Ryan projects has remained high in Hollywood.
“They appeal to audiences because they appear to be nice guys and somebody who you want to be friends with,” said Mace Neufeld, a producer on every on screen iteration.
Ryan is also different from the typical action hero. “His brain is his superpower,” said Carlton Cuse, one of the show’s creators with Graham Roland. “That’s what distinguishes him.”
Krasinski’s character is different from past versions, focusing on Ryan at an earlier point in his career than in most of the books or movies.
Developments quickly take the young analyst from his desk at Langley to Yemen, where he participates in interrogations and the occasional firefight as he pursues a terrorist mastermind in the Middle East who may or may not have ties to Daesh.
All of the Ryan projects vary in tone and substance, including this new series. But one thing they share is that each is a product of its era, their bad guys channelling whichever international villains were in the news at the time.
In that way Jack Ryan isn’t just the only one who is able to untangle the complex conspiracy at issue — he’s also a mirror reflecting America’s most prominent geopolitical anxieties.
The Hunt for Red October played heavily on Cold War tensions. The Sum
of All Fears, based on a book from 1991 but released a year after the September 11 terrorist attacks, involved a bomb going off in a crowded part of Baltimore.
The movie led by Pine had a face off with the Russian government at a time when, in real life, relations with President Vladimir Putin were increasingly strained.
Here’s a look at how Ryan has evolved over the years: