merelyaninnuendo Patriot Games3 Out Of 5Patriot Games is a plot driven action feature about a retired soldier whose family is in danger due to its own deeds. The premise guides the audience to expect a lot of guilt and emotional family drama which it does but in appropriate amount, where the rest of the act is filled with thrilling ride. The little tactics and physical humor or notion are built in with such ease that it cannot not impress the viewers. And the content can easily be relied upon from the source Clancy whose work gets juicier everytime if not better on his self-created fictional character Jack Ryan. It is short on technical aspects like background score, cinematography, sound effects but is decently edited. There isn't any out-of-the-box or metaphorical or even poetic tone in the feature that would help it give a gravitas for the character to evolve within the allotted time. But if not development, their certainly is three dimensional aspect to these characters that never changes to surprise the viewers in this plethora of explosions and bullets. But the antagonist in here is somewhat weak and isn't depicted with essential lethal-ness that remains hollow throughout the course of the feature which is quite long in here; almost two hours. Ford is confident as always and owns it with nothing but merit and is also supported nicely by Bean, Archer and Jackson. Noyce; the director, has kept its world within four walls of singular track in order to not get questioned which frankly works for the most part of its time. A smarter action and chase sequences with gripping screenplay are the only high points of this feature. Patriot Games is an easy, safe, fair and thoroughly entertaining game whose cat and mouse theme is a pro and not a con.

leplatypus My explanation is easy : i tried to read the book twice and put it down twice. The first time i just didn't buy the unbelievable safety of the royals ! the second time i just get bored by Ryan's recovery. The movie is thus the wise choice because it took only 2 hours and as it's a revenge and action story the visual is the accurate medium for that instead of endless pages… In addition, you got wonderful British and Maryland location. For sure Harrison is the perfect choice because he has the humanity and the broad shoulders to be this superman ! For a Clancy novel, the international crisis is left away but it's his first dig about the stealth commando : in that field, we have again more unbelievable things as they easily follow the trail in Africa (compare it to another track !). Maybe it's was the first time that people was briefed about what can surveillance do and already nobody was asking the legitimacy about administrative offices ordering death abroad without judicial review. Maybe Clancy has answered that but to get his opinion, i suppose i should read the book….

David Conrad 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.

callanvass 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