Patriot Games (1992)

Best movie of this year hands down!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Harrison Ford stars in "Patriot Games" from 1992, an adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel. As the years went on, we were able to see Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, and Chris Pine play Clancy's hero, Jack Ryan, who appears in quite a few books.There was a time when there were films about Irish terrorists, but today, they have been replaced by another group. Former CIA analyst Jack Ryan is visiting England with his wife and daughter when he foils an abduction/murder of members of the Royal Family as they leave the Palace.The masked men were Irish revolutionaries, and Jack kills Paddy, the younger brother of one of the revolutionaries, Sean Miller (Sean Bean). He vows revenge, and he'll stop at nothing to get it. That includes escaping as he's being moved from one prison to the other and traveling to America.This is a very exciting film, with a long and detailed finale that is both scary and fantastic.Harrison Ford is the ultimate movie star, hearkening back to the classic stars of the '30s and '40s. Likable, versatile, and strong, he makes a great Jack Ryan,a man as determined to protect his wife and daughter as his nemesis is to destroy all of them. Anne Archer is lovely as his doctor wife. Sean Bean is hateful, as he should be. Lots of familiar faces -- Patrick Bergin, Thora Birch, James Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Alum Armstrong ("New Tricks), and Hugh Fraser ("Poirot"). Quite a cast.Truly excellent -- if you never saw it, see it now. Ford plays Ryan again in Clear and Present Danger.

Patriot Games is a film adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel of the same title and it acts as a sequel to The Hunt For Red October.It features Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan together with a cast that includes James Earl Jones,Anne Archer,Sean Bean, Patrick Bergin,Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Harris.The story takes us to a mission of Jack Ryan's attempt to foil an assassination in which he succeeds that incurs the wrath of an Irish radical terrorist group that plots a revenge to take his life and that of his family. Philip Noyce is at helm for the film.Author Tom Clancy was mad about this film adaptation as it watered down the story in the original novel.Too bad that it was reflected in the screenplay as the global intrigue provided by terrorism becomes some sort of a cops-and-criminals action thriller.In effect,it became more of a straightforward spy action thriller with simplistic political themes that viewers do not need to dwell on.Also,the decisions made by Jack Ryan as a CIA agent makes him look more like an intelligent cop rather than a spy agent.But in spite of it,the acting was great.Harrison Ford did well as Jack Ryan after taking over Alec Baldwin proving the producers that he was a good choice.Great performances can be said for the cast.The technology in it can be absorbing despite the fact that it has been more than 20 years since this film was released.Finally,the action sequences provided lots of tension,entertainment and excitement although some of them could remind the viewers the action-adventure movies Indiana Jones especially with Ford involved in it for they are somewhat out of place for these type of political thriller especially the chase scenes.

What makes Jack Ryan unique among action heroes? In "The Hunt for Red October," his first appearance on screen, Alec Baldwin played him almost as an innocent, albeit a highly intelligent one. He was bright-eyed, often smiling, and joked privately to himself about the people he'd had to deal with. In the next two Ryan movies, Harrison Ford went in a different direction by giving the character Ford's own trademark scowl and seething brusqueness. Ford is entertaining enough in "Patriot Games," and he can convey a lot with that scowl, or with a finger raised threateningly, but it must be admitted that a lot of action movies are helmed by characters much like his. And that's no surprise, because Ford himself played a lot of them. Compared to the strategic chess game of "Red October," then, "Patriot Games" feels routine and even simple. Ryan's family, which includes his medical doctor wife (Anne Archer) and a daughter played by Thora Birch, a veritable acting prodigy for her young age, is targeted by a rogue IRA terrorist seeking vengeance for a perceived wrong. This personalized attack provokes Ryan to seek vengeance in return, and suddenly we have a vendetta movie that might as well star anyone other than CIA analyst Jack Ryan. The not-quite-IRA terrorists also hang around with some vaguely middle-eastern terrorists for no clear reason, which means that despite some over-the-top Irishness from the likes of Richard Harris the bad guys might as well be anybody, too. There may be something to the idea of using Ryan's family to illustrate the fact that terrorists in general, unlike Soviets or other more conventional enemies, intentionally and indiscriminately target civilians and families, but that's not really what's going on in "Patriot Games." Here it's specifically and exclusively Ryan's family members who are targets, and that's a far more lazy, manipulative way of generating stakes than the intricate plotting of "Red October." To be clear, "Patriot Games" is far from dislikable; it's an effective, even a good, mainstream thriller. It's just a bit disappointing to see Jack Ryan, our formerly wonky history teacher, turn into the kind of film character who goes around settling personal scores with his fists, his guns, and the occasional explosion.

I was not a fan of The Hunt For Red October. It was very boring in my opinion. Alec Baldwin never really cut it as Jack Ryan for me, so needless to say. It's refreshing to say that an ideal hero like Harrison Ford took over. Harrison Ford is able to keep your eyes glued to the screen throughout the film, and I was fully involved in his plight. I wouldn't say this movie is action packed. It's more of a suspenseful thriller with cat and mouse stuff. It does the job extremely well as a thriller. It also helps that the Ryan family is a unit, and so likable. I cared about every one of them. This also has one of the most intense finales you'll ever see. It's not very often these days in which I am on the edge of my seat anymore, but the invasion scene at the end will get your pulse rising, but quickly. The boat chase sequence is especially memorable. Harrison Ford is fantastic as I explained. He's not superman, he bleeds, he gets wounded, and he's human. I felt Ford did a perfect job of conveying his emotions, and I was on his side the whole way. I'm not a fan of holier than thou heroes, but Ford isn't one of those people as Jack Ryan. I loved him. Anne Archer is excellent as the supportive wife who reluctantly goes along for the ride. I always felt she was underrated. Her chemistry with Ford was very good. Sean Bean makes for a chilling villain. His morose & psychotic performance gave me the creeps. Thora Birch was cute as a button, and played a very likable kid. Samuel L. Jackson & James Earl Jones both do well in their respective roles, and add class to the proceedingsFinal Thoughts: This is a tense thriller that will make almost two hours fly by with ease. Watch Harrison Ford go to work, and have a blast! Highly recommended8.3/10