Prime Video's 4-Part Action Thriller Is One of the Best on Any Streaming Platform

There aren’t many contemporary literary heroes who have been as well-documented as Jack Ryan, the bookish CIA analyst created by the late, great Tom Clancy. Clancy wrote dozens of novels about the character and other stories set in the “Ryan-verse,” and Hollywood has taken to making film versions that starred Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine. While these are all solid films, they don’t necessarily capture the full range of what Ryan was capable of within the novels. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the ideal adaptation of the source material because the series feels both modern and reflective of the author’s original intent. Even if the timeline is moved up from the Cold War that Clancy lived through, it places Ryan in similar situations where his role is to defuse tensions and find a peaceful way to prevent international conflict.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the right way to do an adaptation because the series is a great introduction to a character without quite being an origin story. The show’s version of Ryan is already an established member of the CIA by the time that the story begins, but it's only after being recruited by James Greer (Wendell Pierce) that he begins getting involved with field activities that send him all over the globe. Each of the four seasons explores a different setting and conflict, and they are held together by John Krasinski in the performance of his career. Given that Krasinski has the wit, personality, and physical fighting skills needed to play such a dynamic character, he is perfectly cast as one of fiction’s greatest spies.

Prime Video's Jack Ryan Series Is the Definitive Version of the Character

The issue with previous adaptations of Clancy's novels is that none of the films understood why Ryan was such a unique asset or showed him at the height of his skills. The Hunt For Red October is a masterpiece, but Baldwin’s version of Ryan is essentially a supporting character in a film about a Soviet submarine captain (Sean Connery) who decides to switch sides. Ford may have given the best performance as Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, but his films took place after the CIA agent had been in active retirement. On the flipside, both Pine and Affleck were in films that embraced the action side of Clancy’s material, but did not delve into the brilliance of Ryan’s strategic mind. Given that Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is a multi-season drama that has room to spread out its story, Krasinski was given the chance to show Ryan’s evolution. It’s completely believable that a somewhat insular desk analyst would find his calling as a field agent once he was pulled into life-or-death situations.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan had the benefit of catching Krasinski at the right point in his career, at a time when he had shown that he’s not exclusive to just one genre. Ryan is a character whose sharp mind and occasionally mischievous behavior is reminiscent of Jim from The Office, but he also has the extreme, unflinching sense of loyalty that defined Krasinski’s performances in the A Quiet Place franchise. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the rare current thriller series that focuses on an unabashed hero, which is a novelty considering that most shows want to have an anti-hero in the vein of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) in Breaking Bad or Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in Mad Men. Ryan isn’t a flawless character and certainly makes mistakes, but the unwavering desire he feels to keep the world’s powers in check makes him both dynamic and inspirational.

John Krasinski's Jack Ryan Prime Video Series Is Expanding

Given how many novels were originally written, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan uses the inspiration of the original source material to touch upon many topical issues, with individual seasons focusing on the rise of Islamic extremists in the Middle East, a political coup in Venezuela, the spread of unreported nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union, and a domestic terrorist threat born out of rival drug cartels. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan smartly points to singular villains as the key antagonists, and not broader cultures or groups of people. When accepting that it’s a fictional series that isn’t intended to be taken as serious political commentary, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan actually does a great job embracing an international cast and offering multiple perspectives. More often than not, Ryan is placed in situations in which he has to take a stand against his own government.

While the series capped off with an open-ended finale that teased the potential political aspirations Ryan had for the future, the universe is expanding very soon with the sequel film Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, a new original thriller that unites the same cast. Jack Ryan: Ghost War won’t just be the first film about Ryan since 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, but the first R-Rated installment in the franchise. Resurrecting an icon of action cinema does come with significant responsibilities, but the work that was done to redefine the character on television suggests that the film will continue the streak of excellence.