New Images Of Chris Pine And Kevin Costner In 'Jack Ryan'

Paramount is banking on the potential of a square-jawed action hero to save Christmas once again, but this time it won't be Tom Cruise in the suit. The last two Christmasese have seen the studio release Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol to great effect, and Jack Reacher to lesser effect. And on Christmas Day 2013, Paramount will put Jack Ryan in theaters, and in so doing revive the Tom Clancy character that has been dormant since The Sum of All Fears in 2002.

Chris Pine is the latest actor to play Ryan, this time under the direction of Kenneth Branagh, who also plays the villain. And Kevin Costner is on hand to provide a little support. Two new images of the good guys have been released. That's the new shot of Pine, above, and the two-shot with Costner is below. 

USA Today has the new images, and describes the basic plot structure:

Pine takes the character to its beginning, where the injured Marine is recruited by CIA vet Kevin Costner to work as a high-level analyst. The two are pitted against a Russian oligarch (played by Branagh) who is pulling the strings of the financial market and delving into international terrorism with potential global catastrophic results.

Pine says "he doesn't drive great cars, he doesn't know five different martial arts. He works in the CIA, but he's a normal guy... thrown into these extraordinary circumstances." The actor elaborates that what makes his Ryan different from other movie heroes is that his primary asset is intelligence, rather than strength or martial prowess.