Rating: Summary: Best Clancy Movie Review: Out of the four Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan movies, I think Clear and Present Danger is easily the best. Harrison Ford is one of my favorite actors, and even though he's made some dreck in recent years, his string of successes post-Star Wars and Indiana Jones reached their peak around this time. The story of the film revolves around the U.S. war on drugs, attempting to stop the flow at the source of production in Colombia. To this end, Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan becomes caught up in the action along with the always-great Willem DaFoe as CIA agent Clark. Just about all of the actors in this movie are great, including Joaquim de Almeida, Donald Moffat, Henry Czerny (the slime dripping off his character might damage your TV), and Raymond Cruz. Not only is this one of my favorite spy/government intrigue movies, but it's just flat-out one of my favorite movies. Great story, great actors, great movie. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: Not even close Review: Once there was a man named Jack Ryan. That's about where the similarities to the book end.For what it's worth, I'm not a picky movie viewer. I'll watch nearly anything. So for me to complain about this movie means that something was really off-base. As far as an action movie goes, it was passable. As far as the technological thriller that the book was, it doesn't even come close. There is no character development (never felt anything towards Ding), random changes in a character's persona (Clark goes from wanting to kill Ryan to making the chopper go back), thing missing that are important to the plot (downing of drug running planes), and things that were never in the book (yacht owner tied to the President). To make what could be an extremely long review somewhat shorter, if you've read the book and are a fan of Tom Clancy, don't bother. If you're just looking for a film with " 'splosions," this might work.
Rating: Summary: The Best Jack Ryan on the Screen, and with Good Reason! Review: Harrison Ford isn't the person who wrote this story, Tom Clancy is. But, Harrison Ford is the perfect Jack Ryan, a spy with a conscience and a man who does the right thing not the expeditious thing. While this is not close to his biggest role or hit, he plays the character, Jack Ryan, as perfectly as he can be portrayed in a movie. He gives the right feeling to his character, the right indignation to wrongs done in the name of Patriotism and Justice, and portrays the right kind of patriotism to the fullest. But, the rest of the cast is also well played, including the good guys, Clark, Chavez, and James Earl Jones' character, and the bad guys, the President and his sleazy administration, as well as the drug dealers. Tom Clancy wrote a great book with this one and the book is well served by the overall excellence of the movie. I strongly recommend the movie to fans of Harrison Ford, Tom Clancy, and William Dafoe.
Rating: Summary: The Jack Ryan Franchise Review: This is my personal favorite of all of the Jack Ryan films which include Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games and Sum of All Fears. The only real problem with this film is that it ends with you wanting to know more...How does the senate committee hearing turn out for example? How exactly does Ryan fully get himself off the hook? The acting is excellent by everyone involved and the action is truly suspenseful. I just hope that maybe Ford will do another one someday although I imagine that is probably unlikely the older he gets...But hey if he's still up for an Indiana Jones 4 then maybe this isn't a total impossibility. Phillip Noyce should do the next one.
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