Starring: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner, Gemma Chan, Karen David Director: Kenneth Branagh

    It’s easy to make excuses for “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” but it won’t make the movie any better.

    The fifth film in the American espionage series has a much lower budget than the typical Hollywood blockbuster, resulting in a much smaller film that confines most of the action to office buildings, a restaurant and a hotel room. But the scale isn’t the problem. It’s also the first film in the franchise that didn’t spring directly from a popular novel by Tom Clancy, but it’s not as if no one else can write a capable spy thriller.

    Chris Pine stars in the title role, becoming the fourth actor to play Jack Ryan, following Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck.

    When you boil it down to its elements, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” has a refreshingly straightforward story. Ryan is a CIA analyst working undercover on Wall Street, hiding his identity from his wife (Keira Knightley). He uncovers a mysterious file that sends him all the way to Russia, where a villain plots the collapse of the American economy. Ryan is forced to fight for his life, and matters get a little complicated when his wife shows up at his hotel to surprise him, only to get embroiled in the espionage herself.

    There could have been a nostalgic simplicity to that plot, which relies more on deception and sneakery than on typical, brainless action. Too bad then that the dialogue lacks subtlety or wit, and that the emotional core is left to academia. Director Kenneth Branagh seems to understand that at the center of his tale is a romantic relationship based on lies, and that suspense should probably stem from whether or not one lover will learn the other’s secrets. But instead of telling the story in such a way that spotlights all that classy suspense, he relies on offhanded references to marital deceit films like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Sorry, Wrong Number” to remind audiences of the emotional nucleus of his own movie. Even then, the references are askew, since hiding a secretly heroic job at the CIA is a far cry from plotting clandestine Satanic rites or murder plots.

    When the action finally does show its disinterested face, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” seems content to crib from “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and “Casino Royale” rather than do anything to distinguish itself from other, better action movies past. Even if you were somehow involved in the low-key teleplay subterfuge that takes up the bulk of the film, you’re bound to be disappointed when the stunt-heavy finale confuses the previously noted existence of motorcycles for canny foreshadowing.

    There’s an intimacy to the story that could have made “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” an intriguingly focused, low-key thriller in the smartest sense of the word, but the passion is absent, the threats stereotypical, and ultimately the film feels shallow where it could have been rather deep.

    A simple story needs to be bolstered by complex characters and genuine suspense to feel like a real movie, let alone a corking espionage thriller, and Ryan seems content to stick to its archetypical cliches. They didn’t just reduce the franchise’s scale, they reduced the thrills and dumbed down the plot and characters, leaving Branagh’s movie feeling like a subpar network TV pilot when it should have felt like a worthy motion picture, worthy of audiences’ time, and worthy of the impressive collection of intelligent spy movies that preceded it in the otherwise impressive Jack Ryan franchise.

    Pre-production for “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” took place at the production offices of August Street Films Limited, based at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Months after signing on as director, Branagh also made a deal with the studio to star as the film’s villain.

    In early August 2012, Knightley, Felicity Jones, and Evangeline Lilly were being considered for the female lead while Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel were approached but declined. Days later, Knightley won the role. That same month, Kevin Costner signed on to play Thomas Harper in a two-picture deal that will also see him play the character in a film adaptation of Clancy’s “Without Remorse.”

    Colm Feore played Ryan’s boss at a financial services firm. Feore also appeared in “The Sum of All Fears” as Olson, a different character altogether.

    “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” was filmed outside of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, United Kingdom. While images from the film’s production in Manhattan surfaced in late August 2012, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions did not announce the start of principal photography until Sept. 18, 2012. At this time, filming was taking place at Liverpool City Center, which was doubling as Moscow. Filming in New York City had been completed earlier that month. Other shooting locales included London and Moscow.

    The musical score of “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” was composed by Patrick Doyle, who has collaborated on many of Branagh’s directorial efforts.

    The film is now being screened in Shenzhen. (SD-Agencies)