Amazon's Jack Ryan Completely Destroyed Tom Clancy's Iconic Character
Known for his meticulous attention to detail and gripping thrillers, Tom Clancy was a much-celebrated author who wrote some of the most iconic books of his era, including The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger.
And one of his best-known characters, the unexpected hero Jack Ryan, has been played over the years by some of Hollywood's most famous actors including Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine.
Since 2018, John Krasinski has portrayed the CIA agent turned politician as the titular character in the Amazon series Jack Ryan.
And it's fair to say the Jack Ryan we're seeing on our screen these days is very much not the Jack Ryan so brilliantly created by Tom Clancy.
While there are a few moments of calm, calculated decision-making, and plenty of references to his intelligence, Amazon has really overplayed the action hero card and almost turned Jack Ryan into 'not quite James Bond '.
Now, I'm not knocking the James Bond franchise. But I am saying that James Bond and Jack Ryan are two very different characters.
And while Daniel Craig 's Bond is very different from, say, Roger Moore's, the essence of the character is there in both. And in others too (if we gloss over the George Lazenby moment).
What the writers have done with Jack Ryan, though, is completely reinvent him.
Season 1 had TVs Jack Ryan drifting slightly from what we had expected – especially as Krasinski seemed a good choice for how fans expected him to be portrayed.
The hope, though, was that season 2 would give us a Jack Ryan who was more recognisable with Tom Clancy's creation.
Instead, he was taken in the exact opposite direction and became more and more of an action hero rather than a strategist. He's now just another trigger-happy former marine trying to shoot his way to a result.
In fact, it's hard to believe this is even the same character from the Jack Ryan novels. And that's the true problem with the character. His essence is no longer there. Amazon is simply piggybacking on the name.
And it all feels a little fraudulent. They should either give us Jack Ryan or create an eponymous character for the show they really want to sell. Because this mishmash of a character is neither one thing nor the other.