Ranking the Jack Ryans on screen

 

Jack Ryan, the protagonist of most of the Tom Clancy spy novels, has been played by five actors over the past 30+ years, starting with Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October (1990). Harrison Ford picked up the role in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994). Ben Affleck took over in The Sum of All Fears (2002), which apparently killed off interest in the character for a while, as Chris Pine did not play Ryan until 2014 in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Finally, John Krasinski assumed the role in the Amazon series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan starting in 2018, with season 2 in 2019, and season 3 in 2022.

I have just one more episode of season 3 to go, so I feel like I can rank the Ryan portrayals -- with one exception: I haven't watched Affleck's try at it, so I'll leave him out of my rankings.

Again, this is a ranking of the portrayals, not the merits of the movies or TV show. It's how well each actor has inhabited the role of Jack Ryan.

1. Alec Baldwin

Jack Ryan is an analyst, not a field agent, but he did serve as a Marine, so he can get stuff done in the field. Baldwin really nailed the thinker who's sent into the field.

2. John Krasinski

Krasinski's Ryan is stockier and more action-oriented, but with the benefit of 24 episodes over three seasons, he's had the most room to make the role his. (As a side note, no one can match James Earl Jones as James Greer in terms of screen presence, so the TV show wisely doesn't try and instead has made Wendell Pierce's version an older peer who is still in the field.)

3. Harrison Ford

I've found Ford's version to be a little much of an earnest Boy Scout, culminating in the showdown scene in Clear and Present Danger where the President says to Ryan "how dare you come in here, barking like a junkyard dog," and Ryan responds, "how dare you, Mr. President." Too corny for me.

4. Chris Pine

I like Pine in pretty much everything I've seen him in (The Princess Diaries, Star Trek reboots, Wonder Woman) but he didn't really stand out as Ryan in his one appearance. He could've been any more or less generic American operative in Europe, and the movie would've been the same.