Right up above, you can see Jack Ryan‘s director and star, Kenneth Branagh, in character as the action romp’s unnamed villain. He’s armed with a nice coat, some fancy sunglasses, a phone that’s almost bound to have internet capabilities, and is walking in Moscow. What a hoot. [ThePlaylist]

When all’s said and done, it’s about as uneventful as the first look at Chris Pine in the lead role, Kevin Costner doing his supporting work, or a further collection of still and silent peeks. Don’t take these as anything past a simple, vague way of knowing what one character will look like — not that this is such a bad way to pass time.

In Jack Ryan, Branagh‘s character, a Russian businessman — who also happens to be Ryan’s boss — makes plans to crash the United States economy with the power of technology and insider intelligence, all of which is hinted at above. (At least, you can sort of gather it when that knowledge is at your hand.) Oh, and Keira Knightley will play Jack Ryan’s wife, a doctor who needs to be saved from… something dastardly. The dangers of a crashing mortgage when the stock market plummets would be interesting.

More will become clear when Jack Ryan opens on December 25th, 2013.

Is this an impressive way to first see the man causing great trouble for Tom Clancy’s most famous hero?