Jack Ryan (John Krasinski) finds himself pulled back into the CIA to assist his mentor James Greer (Wendell Pierce) in resolving a ghost from the past that threatens to destabilise Greer’s position as Assistant Director of the CIA.

With the plot split primarily between Dubai and London, Jack joins forces with MI6 agent Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller), who acts as both partner and partial love interest as they attempt to unravel a conspiracy with global consequences.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War feels like the epitome of what “streaming content” has increasingly become. Take one of the most recognisable names in thriller fiction, cast a charismatic leading man, produce four seasons of competent television with steadily diminishing returns and then round it all off with a feature-length finale designed to keep audiences subscribed for one last adventure. The result is polished, technically accomplished and perfectly watchable, but also strangely anonymous. It is content designed to fill an evening rather than leave a lasting impression.

Taken purely at face value, it is a functional spy thriller. John Krasinski remains an engaging screen presence and there is one genuinely impressive car chase that injects some much-needed energy into proceedings. Beyond that, however, the compliments begin to dry up rather quickly.

The greatest disappointment is how little this actually feels like a Jack Ryan story. Across five previous films, Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine each brought something distinctive to Tom Clancy’s most famous creation. Back in 2018 I had high hopes that Krasinski’s television incarnation would eventually join those ranks. Season one suggested it might. Instead, we arrive at a feature film where the character’s name feels almost incidental to the story being told.

If Amazon were not reminding us so prominently through the title that this is both a Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan production, you could easily mistake it for a perfectly ordinary spy thriller. There is very little here that meaningfully relies on Jack Ryan as a character, and that perhaps sums up the film as a whole. It is competent, well made and entirely serviceable, but ultimately so generic that almost any intelligence officer could have occupied the lead role without fundamentally changing the story.