Movie Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

Here's another reboot, this time for Jack Ryan, the American James Bond (you can tell the difference because Jack's collar is generally undone and sometimes he wears jeans). Tom Clancy's hero has been played by some decent actors before in a loose series of films that include The Hunt for Red October (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and the Sum of All Fears (2002). These are all compelling, or at least decent, political thrillers based on Clancy novels (unfortunately, my favorite Jack Ryan novel, Executive Orders, hasn't been adapted yet). This one is not adapted from a novel, and it shows. Rather than the fairly realistic political backdrop to these other Ryan films, Shadow Recruit is more or less a straightforward action film. It's not a bad action film by any means, in fact it's quite competent, but as a sequel or prequel or whatever to the Ryan series this is a fairly by-the-numbers thing that scarcely benefits from the brand name.

Ryan is an economics student who volunteers for dangerous missions in Afghanistan post-9/11. While recovering from a pretty severe injury, he falls in love with his doctor. Rushing ahead 10 years later, she's totally unaware that Ryan is now an undercover Wall Street trader tracking suspicious market activity. He's sent to Moscow to investigate some firm, and that's when a hulking fellow tries to take him out in his hotel room. Ryan drowns him in the bathtub and the plot gets hectic from that point on. Virtually all of the action scenes are organized, suspenseful, and gloriously free from sloppy handheld camera movement. This is the kind of thing reviewers would describe as "taut," and for once I'd agree with them. Shadow Recruit pushes along quite nicely and never really gets boring. It never really gets great, either.

"Pay attention to ME~!"

Thespian Kenneth Branagh is the Russian guy, truly playing it to the back of the room with his hilarious Yakov Smirnoff accent. Everyone else is fine, even Keira Knightley, playing Ryan's needy, globe hopping gal pal. She follows a fine cinematic tradition of females who get in the way of espionage. In another familiar trope of the spy genre, and there's plenty of them in Shadow Recruit, she becomes tactically useful in distracting the Russian from some fine, Grade A American data theft. As for the Ryan character, Chris Pine has all the skills necessary to channel the gruffness of a counter-terrorist operative, plus all the teddy bear qualities of a man whose girlfriend is bothering him yet again with her need for companionship and intimacy and such. I welcome anything that distracts him from playing his smarmy dickweed version of Captain Kirk in the recent Star Trek retreads. Shadow Recruit is decent. I'm not sure that the economic catastrophe plot is entirely plausible, but what's here is loud, dumb, and worth a few hours if you have little else to do.

PS2 Review: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2003)

I remember being quite excited back when I learned that Splinter Cell was going to be made available for PS2 users. Being dazzled by the graphics, I eagerly rented it as soon as I was able. I'm not sure whether it was culture shock or shell shock, but the learning curve for me was quite a long one. I started playing it at about nine in the morning and didn't stop until seven in the evening; it is certainly a strange feeling to have spent all day with a game, especially one you are just getting to know. It was like I had never played a stealth game before and this was my extra long first date. Sure, they gave you a silencer in some missions in GoldenEye and the Hitman franchise can certainly be billed as a stealth series, but you know if you get exposed you can shoot your way out of problems in both. Not so in Splinter Cell; Sam Fisher put me through a boot camp where I was broken down and reprogrammed. I had to unlearn to shoot first. (This took me a long time. It is quite strange to play it today and think there was a time when I struggled with not having enough ammunition.) And when you spend this amount of time with a game, with all of the frustration and growing pains that go with it, you can only come out with a deep sense of connection to it. Sticking with it through the hard times is proof of one's love. In so doing, Splinter Cell came to define the stealth genre for me. And it became more than just a game, just like for many Star Wars is more than just a movie. People will dress up like Storm Troopers; I will climb pipes and do shoulder rolls. It was a world I wanted to play in. As well, Sam Fisher became iconic. He is brilliantly brought to life by Michael Ironside, which is made cooler by his nearly always playing the "bad guy" role (indeed, my first exposure to him during my more impressionable years of youth was his playing the villain in Free Willy). I loved the idea of a seasoned veteran, knowing that he could only have survived this long if he knew what he was doing. You can read more about my admiration for Sam here, when I talk about the upcoming Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Splinter Cell also undeniably bears the signature of Tom Clancy and his fascination with modern military technology, especially of the near future. This, in fact, is one of the many charming things of the series as a whole: the setting is always a few years after the actual release date. The story also behaves like one of Clancy's crafted novels of geopolitical chess games, and, as enjoyable as reading them can be, I had far more fun playing them. All in all, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a joy and the birth of a wonderful series (albeit one that needs to find its roots), and is a must buy at the prices for which it can be had today, particularly if one has not previously tried it.

Highlights Not From E3: Rainbow 6: Patriots

Rainbow 6: Patriots was not actually present at E3 this year. According to this article, it was because Ubisoft wanted to create focus around their other developments. But the video below, which curiously displays "not actual gameplay footage" in the bottom right corner, is what is currently available as far as gameplay previews go:



 Also out at the moment is this trailer:


I hope you found the first video as disturbing as I did, lest we all become irrevocably desensitized to violence. But anyway, one of the features I find worth commenting on is the apparent ability to see through cars. This felt a bit out of place for Hitman: Absolution; it should have no place in a franchise built upon simulating hostage rescue combat. I haven't particularly liked it when Rainbow Six has taken more arcade-like turns in the past. The Clancy name to me should represent attempts at authentic realism, as Tom himself goes into painstaking detail regarding the technical specifications of aircraft, tanks, submarines, firearms, etc. in his books.


And how about the small bit of plot revealed?


Striking a cord with recent US political and economic turmoil, the legendary counter-terror squad Rainbow 6 returns to fight a new homegrown enemy: the fundamentalist "True Patriots," an organization whose diabolical pursuit for vigilante justice is anything but patriotic.

Shown in both of these videos are armed men strapping C4 to bankers who have apparently accepted government bailouts. I find it interesting that in this, as well as the other new Tom Clancy title, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the antagonists have understandable grievances with U.S. government policy, but choose to address them through violent means. Perhaps even more interesting is the American player's ability to empathize in this case, as while they may not have experienced a foreign army creating bases within their borders, they have experienced being under a government that will distribute taxpayer money to failing banks. I think this presents an interesting ethical dilemma. No doubt that in your gaming career you have vanquished thousands of terrorists, yet it seldom seems like the reasons they decided to become terrorists is adequately addressed. You have simply had an enemy placed before you who was labeled as a terrorist and were ordered to kill him. I like the idea that this game is taking terrorist motivations seriously (though it would have been more interesting if they had created bad guys with whom it was easier to sympathize; ones that only attacked those individuals with whom they have particular grievances instead of mass murdering civilians. I would love to see something that has the player really question the orders he or she receives). Beyond that, they haven't given us much gameplay to see, but possibly some ethical quandaries one might face when we see this come out next spring.

Xbox 360 Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010)

You know, I really like Splinter Cell. The fact that Conviction is exclusive to the Xbox 360 had a major influence on which next-gen platform I chose to buy. Beefs with Microsoft aside, I was not disappointed with the game. As you know, it was a serious break from previous entries in the series, with a much faster pace and being more action oriented. This will be a very good thing for some people, as the learning curves for the previous games could be quite large. For the SC veteran, I think he or she will welcome the change and see it as a refreshing take on the original tagline of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: “Stealth Action Redefined.”

Unlike previous games, where gunfights were rare (in the first two games you would be forced into them occasionally, in the latter two it was possible to complete the entire games without firing a shot), they are now quite common. However, as they were once quite uncomfortable, the more action-inclined Conviction allows for quick guerilla attacks that would have been a poor option previously. But this is not without its serious trade-offs. One of the major appeals for me in Chaos Theory was the fact that after completing a mission you would be given a success rating that was heavily based on your stealth abilities. Being seen, setting off alarms, leaving bodies where they can be found, and even lethal attacks would lower the rating. Avoiding these things, as well as completing all objectives, would result in a 100% rating (which aids in the fulfillment of the Curse of Completionism). This emphasis on stealth was continued in Double Agent: there was an unlockable difficulty level that barred the use of guns. Being able to go through the whole game with just goggles, a knife, and the OCP (an EMP device that temporarily disabled lights instead of breaking them and something I wish Conviction included) was downright sexy.

In contrast, Conviction does not seem to have such clear distinctions of superior stealth ability. Many firefights are simply unavoidable and the lack of ability to specifically choose a non-lethal hand-to-hand attack was a drawback as killing indiscriminately sometimes makes one feel like an arbitrary sociopath instead of a precise ninja. Another shortcoming, at least in my book, was the limited vocabulary of Sam Fisher’s enemies, whose mouths are dirtier than any I’ve heard in a game. If you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about: shoot out lights and you can get them to swear on command.

Fortunately, the superior features of the game dwarf those that may have been better about the old games. There is now a selection of weapons (though I am experiencing glitches obtaining some of them) instead of just the Five-seveN and FN 2000, alternative single player options besides the story mode, specific accomplishments (such as disabling 3 enemies with one flashbang), and other additions that make Conviction a more engaging and lasting experience. It also includes those certain subtle things that really seem to make a gaming experience more fun. Simple things like displaying your objectives on walls, having flashbacks project on those walls, or Sam commenting on how well you handled a group of bad guys. [Another Tom Clancy example would include the instance in Rainbow Six: Vegas how if you reload a gun that is not empty, it will have one more bullet than a clip has after reload, accounting for the bullet that is already loaded in the chamber. This is how real guns work, and a simple thing like that gives the experience a Clancy-esque attention to detail.] The legendary co-op returns, though I haven’t yet immersed myself enough to give a detailed evaluation (though it is promising). As you may know, I do not subscribe to Xbox Live and therefore cannot comment on the quality of the multiplayer. However, some have said that the online multiplayer has “made” the series of Splinter Cell. Obviously, I disagree.

I give Splinter Cell: Conviction one of my highest recommendations. The developers have kept the series fresh and have offered a compelling follow-up story to Double Agent. The gameplay will offer a challenge to anyone, and he or she will feel just plain B.A. in the experience. If you own a 360 and have not played Conviction, you are missing out.

Code Redd Net Awards: Best Action Game

Up next we have the award for Best Action Game. And the nominees are...

Spy Hunter (2001)
Winback: Covert Operations (2001)
Second Sight (2004)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005)
Crazy Taxi (2001)

And the winner is...

Spy Hunter