Action, counterterrorism, Harrison Ford. Released 1992
The film starts with JACK RYAN (Harrison Ford) drinking
champagne with his wife in a pleasant, family-friendly scene in their hotel
bedroom. Wink, wink. Ryan, a retired CIA
agent and professor at the Naval Academy, is on vacation in London with his family. This vacation is
rudely interrupted when a car bomb explodes. An ultra-violent IRA splinter
group is trying to assassinate LORD WILLIAM HOLMS, a British official and
apparently a member of the royal family. Ryan leaps into the fray and ends up
killing PATRICK MILLER, one of the terrorists. Patrick's brother, SEAN MILLER,
sees Ryan kill Patrick and, being a good psychotic, determines to kill Ryan and
his wife and daughter for good measure. Yes, Sean is arrested and sent to
prison. Yes, Ryan goes back to the USA, thousands of miles away. But
those details can't stop Sean, or there wouldn't be any movie.
Like HUNT
FOR RED OCTOBER, Patriot Games is based on a Tom Clancy book. In my limited experience, movies made from his
books are much better than the books themselves.
The movie has some cute lines. A terrorist is in bed with a
woman he just picked up. She says, "Wait a minute. I have to get
something." He says, "But darlin', you're not goin' to make me wear
one of those rubbers. That's a sin." (SPOILER ALERT--he doesn't have to
wear the rubber. In fact, he never wears a rubber again.)
It takes eight minutes from the opening until you first see
a gun, so lovers of violence whose attention span is less than that shouldn't
watch the movie. But once the violence starts, it goes full steam. Sean and his
colleague, KEVIN O'DONNELL, kill so many people (including other terrorists)
and for so little reason, it gets tiring. Yes, psychopaths are a staple of
action movies, but enough is enough. Harrison Ford is entertaining, but half of
his performance is a minimally sedated Han Solo, and the other half is a
constipated academic. James Earl Jones is (as always) wonderful, but he has
only a minor role.
A scene near the end shows the terrorists trying to kill
Ryan in his own house. This should be exciting, but you know they will fail.
The final scene, Ryan chasing a terrorist in a boat, is just plain stupid.
In spite of these criticisms, most of the movie is exciting.
Harrison Ford is always fun to watch, there are some interesting twists, and
the plot moves well. Most of the film got my pulse up to a run. I give it ++++.
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fiddlerzvi@comcast.net.
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