What’s New

Canceled in 2020, the music and barbecue festival returns and adds a fourth night headlined by Brett Eldredge.

Country music superstars Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley and Jon Pardi, who were booked to play at the 2020 Windy City Smokeout until it was extinguished by COVID-19 concerns, are set to take the stage at this summer’s fest.

The music and barbecue extravaganza is scheduled to return July 8-11 outside the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St. At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Thursday morning announcement of looser pandemic restrictions, she cited the Windy City Smokeout as one of the events soon to be feasible in Chicago.

This year the festival grows by a day, and headlining the new fourth night will be hitmaker Brett Eldredge, who recorded his most recent album, “Sunday Drive,” at Chicago’s Shirk Studios.

As the music plays, pit masters from Chicago and around the country will cook their specialties for sale along with a selection of craft beers.

As part of the Smokeout’s comprehensive safety plan, ticket holders will need to show proof of a vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test, and complete a daily symptom survey. Masks will be required for entry.

Daily passes range from $35 to $200, with four-day passes available from $125 to $625, and are on sale now at windycitysmokeout.com.

Read More

The Chicago Bears are in a tough spot. They decided not to fire Ryan Pace or Matt Nagy after the disaster that was the 2020 season. Things haven’t been good at all since they went 12-4 in 2018. It is clear that they have some big needs but one need is more glaring than anything […]

Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace has one move that can save his job – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More

Read More

Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson finds lapse in privacy policy, though city officials found there was no unauthorized access of information.

More than a quarter of the city’s COVID-19 contact tracers who left their jobs as of early this year still had access to patient data for at least a month after their termination, an investigation from the city’s watchdog found.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s office investigated Chicago’s contact tracing program, which is run by an organization under contract with the city, and found the Chicago Department of Public Health “did not consistently remove terminated users’ access” to a system of tracking COVID-19 patients within seven days, which is a standard.

Of the almost 600 contact tracers hired last year, the report found 50 of those workers had been fired or resigned as of Feb. 15, 2021. While all of the departing workers should have had their access to a system with patient data cut off within 7 days, only 11 had the ability removed. A month later, more than a quarter of those contact tracers were still able to look at patient information, though city officials showed investigators that no ex-employees tried to access records.

COVID-19 contact tracing, which involves interviewing people who test positive for the virus along with anyone they might have infected, is considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic. While the report found that the city’s tracing program, run by Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership and more than 30 community organizations, largely did a good job of protecting privacy and reducing cybersecurity risks, it said some oversight practices can be improved.

“Contact tracing will continue to play an integral part in tackling the current pandemic by helping to address and manage cases,” Ferguson said in a statement. “As part of its overall and ongoing work to protect communities from both disease transmission and cybersecurity risks, we encourage [the city] to continue to implement and update security needs as they develop.”

According to the health department’s response, included in the report, the city agreed to strengthen its oversight of the contact tracing system access and “will incorporate employment status reviews into its weekly check-ins with the community-based organizations that are in the corps. This will help ensure [the city] is notified when an employee has left the corps and enable the prompt termination of the employee’s access to the system.”

In a statement to the Sun-Times, health department officials said they “designed the system to have consistent monitoring over who logs in and what they do with information. Because of this, no unauthorized access has occurred in the system, contact tracers are well trained, and people who talk to contact tracers receive life-saving advice and counsel to help stop COVID.”

Regarding the recommended changes to ensure more protections, “we agree and have already implemented several of these extra-layer protective procedures,” the statement said.

Contact tracers have described challenges getting people to talk to them about their exposure to the coronavirus, and the city program got off to a slow start.

In May 2020, the city issued a $56 million request for proposals to bolster its contact tracing. More than 30 community groups were picked by the workforce partnership group to train the trackers.

The city should also inform COVID-19 patients and contacts how long the city will retain their data, the report said.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.

Read More

The boy was 15 at the time of the attack in the 1200 block of North Orchard Road

A 16-year-old boy and a man are facing charges in an Aurora shooting and carjacking that left a woman paralyzed.

Kimberly Weibring, 46, was eating in her car in the Wendy’s parking lot in the 1200 block of North Orchard Road about 4 p.m. on Jan. 16 when at least two people pulled up in a Ford Escape, Aurora police said.

The pair pulled Weibring out of her red 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe, shot her in the back and drove off in her car, police said.

Aurora police and the FBI located the car on Jan. 20 in Harvey and found bullet holes in and outside the car, according to police. Weibring is paralyzed from the waist down, officials have said.

Police arrested Edward James McGee, 26, and the teenage boy this week. Both are charged with felony aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated vehicular hijacking, armed violence, and two counts possession of a stolen vehicle.

The boy is also charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, officials said.

The boy, who was 15 at the time of the carjacking, was not named because he is charged as a juvenile.

Read More

Federal prosecutors say that, while serving as the 22nd Ward alderman, Munoz used money from a PAC formed by the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus on a relative’s tuition and on other expenses, including jewelry, clothing, cellphones, vacations, sports tickets and airline tickets.

Former Ald. Ricardo Munoz has been accused in a federal fraud indictment of using money from a political action committee to pay personal expenses, including a relative’s college tuition.

Munoz, 56, is charged with 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. His arraignment has not been scheduled.

Federal prosecutors say that, while serving as the 22nd Ward alderman, Munoz used money from a PAC formed by the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus on the relative’s tuition and on other expenses, including jewelry, clothing, cellphones, vacations, sports tickets and airline tickets.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Read More

Chicago aldermen on Thursday endorsed renaming Outer Lake Shore Drive from Hollywood Avenue to 67th Street in honor of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable — over Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s objections — during a profanity-laced meeting that fueled charges of racism.

Ald. David Moore (17th) unleashed the tirade in response to a substitute ordinance proposed by the Lightfoot administration that sought to clarify which sections of the Outer Drive were or were not impacted by Moore’s proposed name change.

“This is racist bulls–t,” Moore said at one point.

Moore only became more incensed when Deputy Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney argued it was “not uncommon to clarify from a legal standpoint” what portions of a roadway would be impacted by a name change and that Outer Drive is “not a legal designation.”

“That’s f—ing bulls–t,” Moore responded.

At that point, Transportation Committee Chairman Howard Brookins (21st) called for a momentary recess.

When aldermen returned, Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) sided with Moore.

Taylor called the substitute ordinance “very disrespectful” to Moore and his co-sponsor, Ald. Sophia King (4th), and the proposal they have “worked very hard on” for two years.

“This is important to the Black community. How hard is that? … This is crazy,” Taylor said.

“You expect us to go along to get along. That’s not gonna happen. This is what the community is asking for. If you can afford to live on Lake Shore Drive, you can afford to spend $20” for an address change on stationery, driver’s license and other legal documents.

Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) branded the 11th-hour substitute that Carney called a “technical” correction “absolutely racist.” Vasquez accused the Lightfoot administration of playing, what he called, “the okey-doke.”

“Once again, the administration is finding ways to obstruct or change things that people introduced. If people want to find out why this government isn’t working, it’s because the executive branch does not have any respect for the legislative one to get work done for this city,” Vasquez said.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) countered that Moore’s original ordinance “may have been been a little too vague on the definition” and inadvertently impacted Inner Lake Shore Drive.

“A number of my colleagues are concerned about the costly implications for homeowners, police and fire. … That has an impact on tens of thousands of voters — not just on the North Side, but the South Side. And it’s not a $20 fix. It’s a very time-consuming and costly fix” to change mailing addresses, legal addresses, 911 addresses, Reilly said.

When the dust settled, the technical correction was put off for another day, but the name change in honor of Chicago’s first permanent non-indigenous settler was approved.

King, who joined Moore in co-sponsoring the name change, likened the resistance to renaming Lake Shore Drive to the blowback she got before Congress Parkway was renamed in honor of Ida B. Wells.

“These are just all, kind of, unconscious biases that come out. Individuals strategically put fear about money and about marketing and about all things that really aren’t that important, but do change the minds of people,” King said.

“We had no problem changing White Sox park. Very iconic. And several other Chicago icons. So marketing should not stop us from taking this moment of reckoning — in our world, in our country and in our city — to do what’s right. We should be leaders and do what’s right and turn Lake Shore Drive into DuSable Drive, which will set our city aside in a very distinct way by celebrating its true diversity and making our city even more iconic.”

Prior to the final vote, Moore apologized for using profanity in anger.

He acknowledged it set the wrong example for the young people he hopes to educate about the contributions of DuSable, “this great man, the founder of our city.”

“This will connect us. This will bring people together even more,” Moore said.

“This is history-making. It’s impactful for our young people.”

Moore assured his colleagues his intent was to have the name change impact “only three or four harbors along the Outer Drive.” If a technical correction is needed after the fact, Moore said he would spearhead that move.

Earlier Thursday, Lightfoot touted her alternative plan to invest $25 million to complete DuSable Park, create an exhibit honoring DuSable at the “most traveled part” of the downtown Riverwalk and rename the entire Riverwalk in honor of DuSable.

“There are gonna be three iconic statues that will tell part of the story of DuSable. I’m very enthusiastic about the proposal,” Lightfoot said.

“DuSable has not been properly recognized, in my view, as the founder of the city. We don’t exist if he doesn’t come [and] set up a trading post with his wife…And what we’ve done to date historically is woefully inadequate.”

Moore considers all of those plans a “great complement” to the revised plan he champions to rename the Outer Drive — not a replacement for it.

Read More

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be partly sunny with a high near 65 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms and a low around 48. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high near 59.

Top story

Fans allowed at Bulls, Blackhawks games as Chicago continues to ease restrictions

With two million vaccine doses administered and health metrics improving, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is reopening Chicago a little bit more — this time to let restaurants and theaters serve more patrons and allow fans inside the United Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

“It’s time for the Pier and the city to be open,” Lightfoot said during a celebratory news conference at Navy Pier.

“I’m thrilled to announce that we are able to broadly loosen capacity restrictions across industries starting today, which allows us to welcome back fans to the United Center, reopen Navy Pier and our lakefront beaches, bring back the Windy City Smokeout, our iconic country music and barbecue festival, as well as a number of summer street festivals.”

On the eve of Navy Pier’s phased reopening, President and CEO Marilynn Gardner added, “Welcome to Navy Pier. I can’t tell you how great it feels to finally say those words…After eight long months, we’re thrilled to open our doors and welcome guests back to the peoples’ pier.”

The new Phase Four rules, effective immediately, allow the Bulls and Blackhawks to close their seasons before roughly 5,250 fans per game — 25% of the United Center’s capacity.

Fran Spielman has the full story and learn more about how to get Bulls/Blackhawks tickets here.

More news you need

1. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said today it’s a “big deal” to strip an officer of police powers and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability needs to provide “good justification” for recommending it for the officer who shot and killed Anthony Alvarez. The mayor also criticized COPA for announcing its recommendation before informing Supt. David Brown.
2. COPA, in a separate case, says it found “significant deficiencies” with CPD’s policy and training on the serving of search warrants while reviewing the botched raid on the home of Anjanette Young. COPA said it will release the full report’s findings after Brown’s review.
3. Illinois health officials reported 3,394 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths today. The latest cases were among 89,057 specimens tested over the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 4%.
4. A new Chicago inspector general report says former contact tracers had access to patient information after leaving their jobs. The IG report found lapses in privacy policy, though city officials insist there was no unauthorized access of information.
5. An outbreak of coronavirus that led to 23 cases and one death was linked to a luncheon at Midwest Warehouse on Diehl Road in Naperville, according to a federal investigation. The Woodridge-based company faces a fine of $12,288.
6. Rob Gorodetsky, who was the focus of a 2017 USA Today profile that asked “Is this the future face of sports gambling?” before being caught in a $9.6 million wire fraud scheme, was sentenced to 28 months in prison today. The sentencing hearing at Dirksen Federal Courthouse made for an ignominious ending to the New Trier grad’s career.
7. English rock band Genesis will kick off its first U.S. tour in 14 years with a show at the United Center on Nov. 15. Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford announced The Last Domino? Tour today.

A bright one

Glenview’s Charlie Yook excited to lead NFL Network’s draft coverage on site again

Charlie Yook has overseen NFL Network’s draft production since 2014, but he has been a Bears fan for much longer.

At the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia, Yook was watching the proceedings from where he always does, in the production truck. The Bears had traded with the 49ers to move up from the third overall pick to the second. Yook wondered aloud what general manager Ryan Pace was doing, but he tempered his consternation, saying, “As long as it’s not Mitch Trubisky, I’ll be fine.”

A perk of working behind the scenes is knowing teams’ selections before they’re announced. The production crew sets up the graphics and videos for each player to present to the audience. So when the producer sitting in front of Yook learned the Bears’ pick, he uttered, “Uh, oh,” turned around and said, “The pick is in. You’re not gonna like it.

“Mitch Trubisky, quarterback, North Carolina.”

Yook whipped down his headset and broke a monitor.

Alika Jenner/NFL

Yook, who graduated from Glenbrook South in 1992, was always a sports nut, but he didn’t develop an interest in TV production until he attended Miami University. As a journalism major, he took a class senior year that gave him hands-on experience in a TV newsroom. Every student performed every job – producer, director, camera, anchor, etc. – and he was hooked.

“We all have that moment we realize, OK, this is something real,” Yook said. “That completely solidified what I wanted to do the rest of my life.”

Read Jeff Agrest’s full story on the Glenview native who will be overseeing tonight’s NFL Network draft coverage.

From the press box

The 2021 NFL Draft kicks off tonight with the first round on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network. The Bears have the No. 20 overall pick, but with GM Ryan Pace facing the highest stakes of his career, it’s possible he tries to trade up for a quarterback.

In addition to our final mock draft of all 32 first-round picks, check out who our beat writers think the Bears should take tonight. Mark Potash, Jason Lieser and Patrick Finley all make their cases.

The White Sox will be without a key piece of their bullpen after lefty Garrett Crochet landed on the 10-day injured list today. The team also activated Luis Robert, who will be ready to play in the second game of tonight’s doubleheader against the Tigers.

Your daily question ?

What would you like to see the Bears do with their first-round pick tonight?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: How do you feel about Chicago’s planned “Vax Pass” system to limit admission to select concerts based on vaccination status? Here’s what some of you said…

“I am a big fan. I would love to participate in big concerts with a crowd of people and be comfortable knowing they were all vaccinated like me. Those that choose to not get vaccinated will have to face the consequences of their decision.” — Carole Delahunty

“Just let people live their lives finally! I am vaccinated but would gladly go to a concert where others aren’t. If you’re worried– don’t go or be smart. That simple.” — Makenzie Reigh Thompson

“I think the city is making a wise decision. We are adults and have the ability to make decisions and the brain to understand the consequences of our decisions. If you chose not to get a vaccine, great, but there are consequences.” — Melissa Voss Edwards

“I’m good with it. Vaccinated people deserve to be able to do things again. If you don’t want to be vaccinated I understand, it’s your choice. But people deserve to know who is least likely to be harboring the disease. It’s good public health.” — Heather Burkhalter

“Another idea in which the city will lose revenue! Folks aren’t gonna be forced to get a vaccine they don’t want. They will see the concerts in a neighboring state!” — Lydia Mojzis O’Grady

“Great idea! If people choose not to do something for the common good then the onus is on them.” — Al Kabelis

“So now we are being forced to take a vaccine in order to enjoy our city? Hmmm I see…This will backfire!” — Sata Triplett

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

Read More

The Sky are only five days into training camp, and the team has already felt Candace Parker’s presence and impact in a big way.

Sky coach and general manager James Wade said Thursday no player has stood out in particular through the first week and then laughed and quickly brought up Parker.

“Having Parker here is a big boost for our team,” Wade said. “Her presence has been felt every time she steps on the floor.”

Wade followed that up, acknowledging other players who have looked good, including Stefanie Dolson, Diamond DeShields, Kahleah Copper and Lexie Brown.

It’s not that players haven’t stood out, but rather that training camp is a process, and Wade seems adamant on getting ahead of himself in it by offering up early praise. Everybody still has a lot of information to take in at this stage of the season.

The Sky have been without Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Astou Ndour, Ruthy Hebard and Gabby Williams due to overseas commitments. While rookie Shyla Heal has been waiting on her travel visa and unable to move to Chicago.

Wade said Ndour was on a plane to Chicago while he was fielding questions from the media. Vandersloot and Quigley are back in the United States and arrive in Chicago in the next few days. Wade expects to see those three on the court sometime next week after going through the league’s COVID-19 protocol that includes returning six negative tests.

Hebard returns from Turkey this weekend and will go through the same protocols. Heal is expected to have her travel visa by next week.

The priority for Wade will be building cohesiveness once his entire roster is available with a condensed amount of time.

“The fact that we have players that play overseas and come back late is just the world we live in,” Wade said. “We started off really well last year and didn’t finish very well. I would rather have it the other way around.”

Dolson said the first week of camp has been extremely focused despite not having the entire roster intact. Young players like Natasha Mack have come in and are playing unafraid which raises the intensity level.

Dolson added that Parker’s presence gives the team another layer of leadership. She’s already become the teammate players are turning to with questions.

After a disappointing 2020 season, Dolson looked refreshed and said she’s feeling great. She’s lost 28 pounds with the goal of losing 35 by the start of the season.

Dolson is coming into this season healthy and more confident after a difficult time in the WNBA bubble. She said that’s a feeling the entire team shares.

“We’re excited to have a season where we all stay healthy and compete at our highest level of basketball,” Dolson said.

Read More

General fishing season in Wisconsin opens Saturday, as traditional on the first Saturday in May. Despite being the earliest possible opener, the weather is forecast to be nearly balmy.

Here is Kurt Justice at Kurt’s Island Sport Shop in Minocqua with his usual extended take on opening weekend for those headed north:

It’s the cusp of the 2021 Walleye opener here in the Northwoods! As usual, nothing ever seems the same from one opener to the next.

A very early ice out back in late March followed by temps in the 80’s in early April shot water temps up quickly. Walley spawning started early and is all finished this year, even with the cold snap we’ve experienced dragging things out. So…what to expect?

Lake temps that hit the high 50’s back in early April fell back in to the 40’s for most of the rest of this month. The cold mornings and warming afternoons could be helping opening day anglers by dragging out the slow warm up, keeping the post spawn bite active as minnows, insects and leeches start to fill the shallow, newly emergent weeds with food and warmth.

Working those newly greening weed beds with the customary jig/minnow, jig/leech or jig and plastic combinations should be all most angers need to do well this weekend. Finding those patches of green weeds and areas with slightly warmer water will be key. A temperature difference of just 2-3 degrees from one part of the lakes shallows to another can make all the difference.

Watch as water temps rise in the afternoons as Crappies, Pike, Largemouth Bass and Bluegills move to the shallows to warm and feed. Long cast with weighted floats (so as not to spook the fish) will be key for panfish anglers. Casting stick baits (Husky Jerks, X-Raps, Rattlin Rouges) has been effective as early season catch and release Bass anglers have been finding out.

Looks to be great weather for our opener, we’ve missed the pre-spawn and spawn bite, but that happens more often than not and gives those Walleyes less pressure as they work to repopulate our waters.

Bait supplies look good for this opener with only Redtails and Dace in short supply. With water temps looking to get into the 50’s by the weekend, don’t be shy about adding some leeches or crawlers to your arsenal.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sport Shop
Like us on FaceBook

Read More

“He is more dangerous and effective than any man we have in the field.” – Typical action-movie cliche line from “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.”

The Amazon Prime original movie “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” has to be considered one of the more disappointing films of 2021 so far, given the long and rich history of entertaining adaptations of Clancy’s work and the vibrant star power of its leading man.

Michael B. Jordan has plenty of opportunities to fire off weapons and flex his muscles and throw hands here, but delivers a surprisingly flat and underwhelming performance playing the kind of action anti-hero perfected by the likes of Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Liam Neeson, The Rock, Charlize Theron and we could go on forever. You know, the kind of guy or gal who often starts out as a cop or a soldier but becomes disillusioned with the system after a betrayal and goes ROGUE and also OFF THE GRID.

That’s exactly the kind of cliche, er, character, Jordan portrays here. We have seen John Kelly as a supporting player in previous film adaptations of Clancy books (Willem Dafoe played him in “Clear and Present Danger” in 1994, and Liev Schreiber in “The Sum of All Fears” in 2002), but now John is front and center as the senior chief of an elite team of Navy SEALs sent into Syria to extract a CIA agent ostensibly being held captive by the Syrian Army. The ensuing rescue mission/shootout is indicative of many of the impressively choreographed but murky action sequences that permeate “Without Remorse,” where there’s lots of shouting and shooting and explosions and carnage, but it’s often difficult to keep up with the proceedings as we squint through the dust and darkness. One assumes the intention was to replicate the true chaos inherent in such situations, but that doesn’t necessarily make for clearly defined cinema.

We know there’s a problem with this mission from the get-go because it’s telegraphed via the duplicitous and smarmy CIA operative Robert Ritter (the chameleonic Jamie Bell, excellent as always), who smirks and calls John “sweetheart” and brushes off his concerns, even after it’s determined the bad guys aren’t soldiers, they’re ex-Russian military turned mercenaries and they don’t play by any established rules of war. Nevertheless, the mission is a qualified success, with John and his colleagues gunning down numerous anonymous henchmen.

Cut to a few months later, with John and his eight-months-pregnant wife Pam (Lauren London) hosting a cookout at their Washington, D.C., area home, which is a REALLY nice spread and looks more like something a wealthy senator might own. All is well and peaceful; in fact, as John is retiring from the SEALs to take a lucrative and relatively safe gig doing private security. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, John could be chilling on the sofa later that night, listening to his favorite jams on his noise-canceling headphones, so he’s late to spring into action when a team of Russian assassins get their revenge for that Syrian mission by gunning down his wife (Lauren London) and unborn child, and seriously wounding John before he kills most of them. (One gets away.) As John puts it later, in one of the many, many lines that will ring familiar with fans of this genre: “They took everything from me!” Also: “Now we’re going to play by my rules!”

And off we go on our path of vengeance. After a brief period of mourning, John sets out on a mission to find out what’s really going on and to gain his revenge on anyone connected with the massacre in his home. For a time “Without Remorse” becomes a prison picture, and not a very good one, as John fends off a myriad of corrupt guards with orders to kill him — and then he’s recruited by his longtime friend and former SEALs supervisor Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith) and the aforementioned CIA operative Ritter to lead another dangerous mission, this time to Russia. Despite John’s frequent observation he’s just a pawn in a larger chess game (there’s even an early foreshadowing scene involving an actual game of chess), he agrees to take the gig, which might just help to uncover a conspiracy to start a war between the United States and Russia. (It’s complicated. And convoluted.)

Amazon Studios

Based on the 1993 novel of the same name (with many updates and revisions) and directed by Stefano Sollima (“Sicario: Day of the Soldado”), “Without Remorse” was filmed largely in the legendary Babelsberg Film Studios just outside Berlin — and while you can see ample evidence of the preparation and the attention to detail and the large-scale ambition onscreen, it never quite jells into an involving character study or a fresh action tale. Jordan’s line readings reflect the by-the-book nature of the story, and when the main villain is finally revealed, it’s hardly a surprise — and his demise is borderline ridiculous.

Halfway through the end credits, there’s a scene setting up further adventures. Even this Easter Egg is overwrought, as two characters stand side by side in the night, gazing at the Washington Monument and setting up the sequel. Here’s hoping when that happens, John is given a better vehicle to drive.

Read More