Clear and Present Danger (1994)

 The world needs more heroes
Whether or not you're a fan of Tom Clancy novels, the plots can sure make for some great entertainment. While some of the Jack Ryan stories have had very mixed results as movies (I really did not like Alex Baldwin or Ben Affleck as the protagonist), Harrison Ford has been uniformly awesome in the role. It's just someone he was born to play if you ask me. In fact, I wish he was in every film in the series (that would have been fantastic). At any rate, Harrison Ford is fantastic in this movie, and he's surrounded by a great cast, in what has got to be my absolutely favorite modern political film (wouldn't quite call it a thriller).

The story (as I have been told, because I've never read a Clancy novel) was greatly truncated from the book, yet still manages to tell a great story. And the story is simple. The President of the United States faces a possible scandal involving someone he knew turning up dead after crossing some dirty business partners, and as this person was a friend of his, decides to carry out his own little secret war against the drug cartel in Columbia since they've become such a thorn in his side. Harrison Ford as Ryan is a honest and straight-shooting yet lovable guy who finds himself advising the President and investigating the cartels.

The whole story is really shown from four different perspectives. The hero protagonist is of course Ryan, and we follow him as he carries out his investigation. There is also the other government agents who are involved in the secret war and advise the president and conspire against Ryan.Then we have one of the drug lords who finds himself being attacked by the US government, and largely just gets angry and tries to figure out why everyone seems to be getting more and more ticked at him. Lastly we have the mysterious invisible man who manipulates everyone behind the scenes and spies on everyone, the REAL villain of the story in many ways.

The drama is fantastic as several stories unfold at once, Ryan's boss (played by James Earl Jones) slowly dies of cancer, a mercenary (Willem Dafoe) commands the secret operations team including one particularly sharp shooter, and Ryan gets closer and closer to finding out the truth about everything.

If action is your thing this movie has enough of that, with one sequence in particular being a standout. The invisible man sends assassins to take out Ryan and the people with him, and it's a supremely thrilling few minutes while rocket launchers take one one vehicle after another and Ryan tries to escape with his life and protect his friend. If you have a good sound system that sequence is a showcase. A very nice sound mix throughout this film, and the musical score by James Horner is also beautiful. The visuals are quite good also and the entire movie is very well shot, much like The Fugitive (none of that shaky hand-held garbage here!)

The dialog in this movie is great, and the end of the film has a very satisfying climax as Ryan finds out the truth, faces down the beaurocrats who lied to him, and leads a mission to save the troops who have been abandoned by the leaders of the country.

This film can be taken different ways, but to me it is a bold statement about integrity and nobility. In the entire movie Ryan never uses a gun even once, and he's the hero. His crusade is all about doing the right thing and believing in that, even when he discovers that he's the own one left who clings to such ideals. I'm not sure many actors could pull off such a performance and have such conviction, but Ford does a wonderful job portraying Ryan as the last good man in a country gone corrupt. It's really great stuff, and when you combine it with all the political intrigue and detective work of figuring out who is who and what is what in the investigation Ryan conducts, and the action between the troops and the Cartels, this is one great piece of entertainment with a strong message about doing what you know is right and honoring those who make sacrifices to do the same. Very highly recommended. March 17, 2008

 SKULLDUGGERY AT THE TOP
Many reviewers liken this film to Ronald Reagan's Iran Contra affair.I prefer to liken it to the mechanizations of the industrial military complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1960. In this movie, we have a none too bright president, declaring a revenge war on the Colombian drug cartel, with Harrison Ford carrying the ball for the ailing James Earl Jones. Ford assures Congress that no ground troops are to be introduced; yet that's exactly what happens when 2 CIA rivals secretly overtrump Ford, without his knowlege. After almost being killed on a fact finding mission, Ford returns first to Washington to get the story straight,then back to Colombia to help rescue as many covert soldiers as possible. Returning to the White House, the president insists that Ford"take the fall" for the administration. Ryan (Ford) refuses, and as the story ends, he's prepared to "blow the whistle" on the entire administration. A fair/good movie with suspense and plenty of action. March 13, 2008

 Harrison Ford in a Cool Story Arc
I've read and liked a few Tom Clancy books and was glad to see Harrison Ford appear in this one. I must admit to liking his Star Wars and Indiana Jones-type characters. As Jack Ryan, he comes across as willing to stick to his own moral character, even at getting into the face of the president of USA himself! Action scenes are great, especially the helicoptor scenes. I'll never understand though how the bad guys can shoot at a stationary target and miss every single time. Amazing. Dafoe makes a good mercenary though I can't get the 'green goblin' character out of my mind. I almost expect him to throw a pumpkin bomb, but I digress ....

Good film of American politics justifying unethical behavior, caring for their own skin alone, and a man willing to stand up to them. Thanks Harrison.

The DVD has a few extras such as in-person interviews and comments by the cast and crew. March 3, 2008

 JOHN RYAN
The best of the John Ryan movies. Thrills chills and James Earl Jones. Oh, and Harrison Ford wasn't too bad. February 29, 2008

 Thinly-veiled Iran-Contra revisionism
Harrison Ford mumbles his way through a thinly-veiled revisionist re-writing of the Iran-Contra scandal. Ask yourself: what can you really expect from a Oliver North-sympathizing libertarian like Tom Clancy and a gun-toting, NRA zealot like co-writer John Milius?

Probably would have been slightly better if the producers had kept Alec Baldwin in the Jack Ryan role, rather than dumping Baldwin for Ford, who has acted without a pulse since sometime in the mid-1980s.

Great for people who like explosions.
September 3, 2007

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