Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Paramount, Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, On Demand) is prequel and reboot all in one, with Chris Pine taking on the role of the young CIA analyst Ryan as he takes his first field assignment under the command of Kevin Costner. Pine is the fourth Ryan in the fifth Ryan film, but this is the first one that isn’t adapted from one of Tom Clancy’s novels. It’s an original story and it takes the US / Russia tensions out of the Cold War of Clancy’s first books and into the Putin era, with Kenneth Branagh as a Russian financial tycoon plotting an act of economic terrorism on the U.S. Which is why Jack Ryan, a former Marine and a graduate of the London School of Economics, is sent in for this very specialized mission.
Branagh directs this one too, wrangling a complicated production with more efficiency than personality. For that he has Pine, just fine as the brainy American patriot, and Costner, perfect as the veteran soldier and father figure mentor, and Keira Knightly as well, playing Ryan’s fiancée who gets pulled into the mission when she shows up to surprise Jack. The surprise is on her when she finds out he’s a covert agent and she’s a target.
“Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit doesn’t update Tom Clancy’s Reagan-era Cold War fantasies to the present day so much as it crams itself into a set of uncomfortable contortions so it can fit into a retro, regressive set of settings and plot devices,” wrote Cinephiled film critic James Rocchi back in January. “There are adequate thrills in it, to be sure; while Branagh needs to move the camera back about 10 feet from all his action sequences and hold his cuts longer, he was also smart enough to hire legendary Second Unit Director Vic Armstrong to help shape the fights, chases and action sequences. And all of Jack Ryan is like that – a handsomely-made movie that could have been better, or at least interesting, with a little massaging.”
The supplements are on the Blu-ray: Commentary by director / co-star Kenneth Branagh and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, four featurettes, and deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary.
Non-Stop (Universal, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD, On Demand) continues Liam Neeson’s unexpected career reboot as an aging action hero. This time he’s an alcoholic air marshal who is targeted by hijackers and then framed for a series of murders that take place at 20,000 feet. Which turns out to be pretty easy when you can peg your target to overreact on cue and send it viral from passenger cell phone video.
Neeson gets to play the compromised hero set up as a patsy, and who gets a shot at redemption when he defies his place in the bad guys’ script, but it’s no Taken. Director Jaume Collet-Serra put Neeson through his paces in Unknown and does the same here, unleashing him on a script that is not much more than a series of plot twists and evil genius scheming with so many moving parts that it could only work in the movies. Julianne Moore is a fellow passenger with a second act revelation that is a screenwriter’s gimmick with no satisfactory payoff and Michelle Dockery is a stewardess who knows a little of Neeson’s backstory and his problems with the bottle, but Lupita Nyong’o (an Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave) is shamefully wasted in a nothing role. Collet-Serra comes up with some inventive ways to shoot the enclosed space and keep it all roaring ahead, but this is one of the action films that is deviously clever but not all that smart.
Blu-ray and DVD with the featurette “Suspense at 40,000.” The Blu-ray also includes the bonus featurette “Non-Stop Action,” plus bonus DVD and UltraViolet Digital HD copies of the film.
Also new and notable:
Alan Partridge (Magnolia, Blu-ray, DVD) is Steve Coogan’s BBC TV alter-ego, a radio deejay and failed talk show host who wants nothing more than to be a media celebrity. He reprises his small screen role for this feature comedy, trying to defuse a hostage situation at his radio station while cashing in on the media coverage. With three featurettes.
Costas-Gavras directs Capital (Cohen, Blu-ray, DVD), his takes on greed, corruption and power in modern international capitalism. Gad Elmaleh stars as the Machiavellian young executive who takes control of a major French bank. French with English subtitles, with bonus interviews.
Devil’s Knot (Image, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD) is Atom Egoyan’s dramatization of the story of the West Memphis Three, the teenage boys wrongfully convicted of murdering thee children and kept in prison for decades before they were released. The story was previously told over four acclaimed documentaries. This film focuses on the adults and stars Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth and Alessandro Nivola.
Visitors (Cinedigm, Blu+DVD Combo, Digital HD), from director Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass of the Qatsi trilogy, continues that meditative filmmaking style with a focus on (mostly human) faces.
The Missing Picture (Strand, Blu-ray, DVD), a documentary that explores the atrocities that Cambodians suffered under Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge, was nominated for Best Foreign Film, the first nominee from Cambodia and a rare documentary to receive a nomination.
Also on the non-fiction front is Tim’s Vermeer (Sony, Blu-ray+DVD Combo, Digital, On Demand), directed by Teller (of Penn and Teller), about inventor Tim Jenison’s efforts to understand the painting techniques of Johannes Vermeer.
VOD / On Demand exclusives:
Hellion (Sundance, On Demand), starring Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis, and Lullaby (ARC, On Demand), starring Amy Adams and Garrett Hedlund, will be available via Cable On Demand on Friday, June 13, same day as theatrical release.
Repentance (Lionsgate, Digital HD, VOD, On Demand), a drama starring Forest Whitaker and Anthony Mackie, is available digitally in advance of disc release.
Available through VOD this week is Rage (RLJ, VOD), starring Nicolas Cage and Rachel Nichols.
More releases:
Adult World (IFC, DVD)
Hide and Seek (Film Movement, DVD)
Haunt (IFC, DVD)
Omar (Adopt Films, Blu-ray, DVD)
Bushido Man: Seven Deadly Battles (Shout Factory, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD)
A Short History of Decay (Arc, DVD)
The Anonymous People (Alive Mind, DVD)
Bible Quiz (Virgil, DVD, Digital)
Love Will Keep Us Together (eOne, DVD)
The Secret Life of Dorks (Cinedigm, DVD)
Ride Report: 10,000 Miles To Rio (Cinema Libre, DVD)
Vendetta (Inception, DVD, VOD)
Patrick: Evil Awakens (Phase 4, Blu-ray, DVD)
13 Sins (Anchor Bay, Blu-ray, DVD)
Kill Zombie! (Well Go, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital)
Unacceptable Levels (TDC, DVD)
Brawl (Lionsgate, DVD, Digital HD, VOD, On Demand)
Midrange (Cinedigm, DVD, Digital, VOD)
Ghost of Goodnight Lane (Inception, DVD, VOD)
Vendetta (Inception, DVD, VOD)
The Great Bear (Vertical, DVD)
Dude, Where’s My Dog? (Screen Media, DVD)
TV on disc:
True Detective (HBO, Blu-ray, DVD)
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (Fox, Blu-ray, DVD)
Resurrection: The Complete First Season (ABC, DVD)
Klondike: Season One (Gaiam, Blu-ray, DVD)
Ray Donovan: Season One (Showtime, Blu-ray, DVD)
DCI Banks: Season One (BBC, DVD)
Death in Paradise: Season One (BBC, DVD)
Scott and Bailey: Season One (BBC, DVD)
The Village: Series One 1914-1920 (BFS, DVD)
The Accidental Soldier (BFS, DVD)
The Chisholms: The Complete TV Series (Shout! Factory, DVD)
Major Crimes: The Complete Second Season (Warner, DVD)
Rizzoli & Isles: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner, DVD)
Brazil with Michael Palin (BBC, DVD)
Sesame Street: Monster Manners (Warner, DVD)
William Shakespeare Collector’s Edition (PBS, DVD)
Perry Mason Movie Collection Double Feature 1 (Paramount, DVD)
Perry Mason Movie Collection Double Feature 2 (Paramount, DVD)
Perry Mason Movie Collection Double Feature 3 (Paramount, DVD)
Secrets of the Dead: The Lost Gardens of Babylon (PBS, DVD)
Classics and Cult:
L’eclisse (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Combo)
All That Heaven Allows (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Combo)
The Man From Laramie (Twilight Time, Blu-ray)
The Train (Twilight Time, Blu-ray)
The Mechanic (Twilight Time, Blu-ray)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (Twilight Time, Blu-ray)
Resurrected (Twilight Time, Blu-ray)
Amen (Cohen, Blu-ray, DVD)
I Vinti (Raro, Blu-ray)
Tightrope (Warner, Blu-ray)
The Spike Lee Joint Collection: Vol. 1 (Touchstone, Blu-ray)
The Spike Lee Joint Collection: Vol. 2 (Touchstone, Blu-ray)
Sorcerer (Warner, DVD)
Calendar of upcoming releases on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD