Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Ghost War review (2026)
Eschewing the normal season format, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Ghost War packs eight episodes of thrills and explosive action into a mostly satisfying full length film experience.
It’s been three years since the fourth season, but domestic and international terrorists haven’t been sitting idle in the interim.
Ghost War kicks off with an exciting opening act. Two CIA agents are gunned down while trying to transfer some highly classified information. Now it’s fallen onto CIA deputy director James Greer (Wendell Pierce, Superman) to secure the information before more lives are lost.
To make sure the job gets done properly, Greer calls former CIA analyst Jack Ryan (John Krasinski, IF) back into action. Ghost War finds Jack enjoying civil life where the number of people shooting at him has dramatically dropped to zero. Greer also calls in Jack’s longtime ally, Mike November (Michael Kelly, The Penguin), for backup on the field mission.
Jack and Mike travel to Dubai for a meeting, but Greer’s contact gets gunned down by the same man who killed the two operatives — Liam Crown (Max Beesley, The Gentlemen), a former agent who collaborated with Greer as part of a joint CIA/MI-6 task force before it got decommissioned.
Crown is now putting in motion plans to remind the decision makers why such a unit is necessary even if he has to create the threats himself.
Given the international stakes of the operation, Jack aligns with MI-6 operative Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller, American Sniper) to stop Crown before he makes good on his threats. Marlow is a welcome addition to the Ryan universe and Miller immediately finds a rhythm with Krasinski where they’re playing off each other like she’s been in every season of the series.
Not surprisingly, shifting from a season of 44-minute episodes to an hour and 45-minute story means the pacing is going to be accelerated. At times, Ghost War does feel like it’s moving too quickly through scenarios that would have more time to breathe in a typical season.
Ghost War screenwriters Aaron Rabin (Jack Ryan) and Krasinski do a solid job of keeping the momentum going though Ghost War does occasionally lean a little heavy into extended speeches about doing one’s duty, which feels overly dramatic.
The biggest casualty to the streamlined run time is Crown, who felt like he could have been a memorable Jack Ryan villain had he gotten a season to have more opportunities to show his villainy.
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Director Andrew Bernstein (It: Welcome to Derry) stages some riveting action sequences. Ghost War features some excellent shoot-out scenes and Bernstein crafts impressive action jump scares even in cases where the viewers might be anticipating something happening.
Betty Gabriel also reprises her role as CIA Director Elizabeth Wright (Novocaine), who is Greer’s staunchest supporter even in the midst of some of his riskier plan.
Krasinski, Pierce and Kelly naturally are the backbone of Ghost War and their bond is one of the film’s highlights. By this point their interactions and banter is part of the DNA of Jack Ryan. With the evolution of TV series to film, one easy way to raise the stakes would be to take out one of the Big 3 — or big two since a Jack Ryan series without Ryan isn’t much of a series.
Bernstein crafts some credible tension that Greer or Mike might not see the end credits of Ghost War as the action plays out.
Ghost War might lack the slow burn tension of the regular seasons, but it makes for an entertaining quick hit of the usual Jack Ryan suspense and action.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Amazon
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