There’s a version of this review where I spend half the time complaining that Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War isn’t trying to be Mission: Impossible, but honestly, that says more about modern criticism than it does about the film itself. This weekend features two films based on television shows, but the difference is one of them is making a giant leap to the big screen, while the other understands exactly what it is. Ghost War is not trying to reinvent espionage cinema, launch a billion dollar franchise reboot, or convince audiences that John Krasinski should be hanging off airplanes with Tom Cruise. It is a feature length continuation of the Amazon Prime series, and once I calibrated my expectations accordingly, I had a pretty good time with it.

This marks the sixth feature built around Tom Clancy’s most famous analyst, a character previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine before Krasinski inherited the role for four seasons on streaming. Amazon smartly locked him in for a movie continuation, brought back reliable anchors like Wendell Pierce and Michael Kelly, and handed the project to a director who already knew the DNA of the series. That familiarity matters, because Ghost War feels less like a theatrical reimagining and more like an extended episode with a different objective.

A lot of critics have blasted the film for not feeling “big enough,” or for delivering a plot that lacks some earth shattering hook. I think that criticism misses the point entirely. This should be approached the same way audiences approached the Psych movies, the Monk movies, or even the recent Peaky Blinders continuation. Stop projecting The Hunt for Red October onto this thing. Ghost War is not trying to reclaim the glory days of theatrical spy thrillers. Unless you are stupid rich with a private IMAX in your basement, this was always destined to feel like premium television with a slightly bigger budget. But I suppose, if you own your own IMAX, everything is a big screen event for you. Man, Virgin River must look rough on IMAX.

In fact, while watching it, I kept thinking audiences may simply be desensitized to grounded espionage because Ethan Hunt has spent the last decade jumping off cliffs, clinging to airplanes, and sprinting through exploding cities. Tom Cruise absolutely raised the bar for large scale spy spectacle, but he raised the bar for theatrical spectacle. Jack Ryan has always operated in a different lane. What made the Krasinski series work so well was its patience. It expanded ideas over eight episodes instead of cramming an entire political thriller into two hours. Ironically, the biggest weakness of Ghost War is that it becomes more like the older Jack Ryan films by necessity. It truncates the story. You can feel moments where the material wants room to breathe. Hell, I’d argue that this film is so self aware of what it is, it kind of tells casual audiences to fuck right off. It opens by not explaining to you things it believes a fan of the series would know, and at minimum, someone who had seen a Jack Ryan film before would know. It doesn’t spoon feed you unnecessary backstory on why Jack Ryan is, or where he is in his life cycle as this film starts, it picks up where the series left off, quite unabashedly. If you didn’t watch the series, but are familiar with Jack Ryan, there’s a bit of a learning curve. If you haven’t seen the series or any of the films, this is going to be an uphill battle for you.

That said, Krasinski continues to work extremely well as this version of Ryan. He is probably my second favorite behind Harrison Ford. He sells intelligence without making Ryan feel passive, and he still carries that everyman energy that separates the character from super spies cut from comic book cloth. Wendell Pierce and Michael Kelly remain invaluable to this series as well, bringing continuity and gravitas that instantly reconnects you with the world.

The film also deserves credit for understanding its own scale. It never reaches for blockbuster stunt casting or tries to manufacture fake prestige. The biggest addition here is Sienna Miller as a British operative, and honestly, she fits perfectly because she feels like exactly the kind of actor this franchise would cast. She is talented, experienced, and underrated, but she is not being presented as some giant “look who we got” movie star reveal. This is not Bond bringing in Ana de Armas for a flashy supporting turn. There are no distracting celebrity cameos. Angela Bassett does not suddenly wander into frame. Nobody emptied the Rolodex looking for favors. The movie keeps things contained so it still feels connected to the series instead of transformed into something else entirely. It didn’t even go snag some major surprise for the villain. It chose to go the character actor route, instead of inviting Christoph Waltz or Javier Bardem onto set. Could Krasinski faced off against some major scene chewing villain? Possibly. But that wouldn’t have happened in the series, so they left the invites for the Idris Elba’s, Henry Cavill’s, and Colin Farrell’s at home.

Even with its limitations, I still think Ghost War ranks above Shadow Recruit pretty easily, and I’d probably slide it past The Sum of All Fears too. The film takes a legitimate risk with one major death, there are several excellent chase sequences, and the central betrayal gives the conflict a more personal edge than I expected. I especially enjoyed the delivery bag sequence, mostly because that poor Uber Eats driver had absolutely no clue what kind of nightmare he accidentally clocked into.

The audio description track also deserves praise for keeping up with the fast paced action and espionage details without sacrificing tension or clarity. Between the shifting allegiances, clues surrounding the conspiracy, and the rapid movement during the action scenes, it consistently stayed on point.

Ultimately, this all comes down to expectation management. If you walk in expecting a 200 million dollar action spectacle designed to compete with John Wick or Mission: Impossible, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Ghost War was never trying to be that movie. It is an approximation of the television series, only compressed into a tighter runtime. Honestly, my biggest disappointment came from being reminded how much stronger this material works in episodic form. I would have happily taken a longer cut, or preferably a fifth season.

Still, I enjoyed it. Krasinski, Pierce, and Kelly all deliver strong performances, the film maintains tension, and the story leaves Ryan in an interesting position moving forward. If Amazon decides to do another one, I’ll absolutely watch it. Though next time, they may need a few more explosions, or maybe Al Pacino chewing scenery as the villain, just to appease the things go boom people. If you walk into Jack Ryan: Ghost War expecting a tentpole summer release, you’ll not only be disappointed, you’ll miss the point. Ghost War works as an extension of the TV series, allowing Krasinski to bring his version to long form. This mission was possible, and mostly achieves what it set out to do.

Fresh: 7.1/10