Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2014

There’s nothing wrong, exactly, with this “origin” reboot of the Tom Clancy cash cow (Clancy didn’t write this). It competently cobbles together all the action tropes, the direction is able, and the central conspiracy suitably wacko. Chris Pine’s a little weak, but that’s nothing new. Good supporting work from Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley and director Kenneth Branagh as the villain. Yes, it’s all there. But then it isn’t. I cannot remember a more personality-free, by-the-numbers action retread. It fairly throbs with not-newness. Better to watch any Bourne a third time than this total snore once. (105 min)