Spanning four films and three different Jack Ryans of varying success, Paramount unleashes the Jack Ryan Collection in the full splendor of HD with a boxset containing ‘The Hunt for Red October’, ‘Patriot Games’, ‘Clear and Present Danger’ and ‘The Sum of All Fears’.
An HD-DVD release that was a long time coming, this set has been pushed back twice. First, the collection was supposed to hit in late August but after the infamous Paramount HD-DVD exclusive deal was struck, the studio pushed back the collection until October 23rd. Now, even though we received a screener copy, the release date has been pushed back again because of an aesthetic packaging error.
Even though the packaging on each of the separate film labels state these HD-DVDs as being ‘Special Collector’s Editions’ with some Bonus Features for each, the insertion of the discs come as a rude awakening – none of the four films have any bonus features, not even a trailer.
The reasons for this sudden decision not to include extras is anyone’s guess (the same thing happened to the HD-DVD release of ‘Top Gun’ which originally was supposed to feature extras) but the cynic in me ponders the possibly strategic move of releasing double-dips of these pics on dual-format when Paramount’s HD-DVD exclusive deal runs out in 16 months…hmm.
Regardless, the bonus features for these pics were never anything that one couldn’t do without and for fans of Jack Ryan and HD, this set will still prove attractive as for most of us HD owners, it’s the video and sound that we care most about…chiefly for lower-key catalog titles such as these.
Instead of an exhaustive breakdown of each film narrative-wise, a flourish I don’t think anyone needs or wants for these particular pics, I’ll just quickly touch upon each film with a quick critique and my own individual reflection. Chronologically, the first film in this set would be 1990’s ‘The Hunt for Red October’ with a young Alec Baldwin being the first to step into the shoes of the Tom Clancy imagined Ryan, Jack Ryan – CIA Analyst extraordinaire – playing off of Sean Connery.
Directed by John McTiernan, who was on a late eighties roll coming off such pics as ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Predator’ (a roll that would come to a screeching halt two years later when he reteamed with Sean Connery again for ‘Medicine Man’, a pic that would start a free-fall for him that he would never recover from), ‘The Hunt for Red October’ was one of the last films to effectively convey the state of paranoia due to the cold war.
A commanding performance from Sean Connery as rogue Russian Submarine Captain Marko Ramius whose intentions, with a technologically advanced submarine that could be a first strike weapon, hint at disaster to the American government; only a solitary CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Baldwin) thinks otherwise. So, of course, a race against time is underway as Ryan attempts to prove that maybe Ramius has other plans before the American government and the Russians (who are also chasing him) find him.
With a great supporting cast including Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Tim Curry and now president hopeful Fred Thompson, McTiernan keeps the tension tight and cinematographer Jan De Bont does a nice job creating a must-have sense of submarine claustrophobia. Alec Baldwin does a serviceable job as Jack Ryan, second to Ford, way ahead of Affleck, but this is really Connery’s show and he doesn’t disappoint.
With a worldwide gross of 200 million, Paramount found themselves a franchise, so work got started on 1992’s ‘Patriot Games’. Due to a scheduling conflict (a diplomatic way of saying Paramount wanted a bigger star to portray Jack Ryan perhaps?), Baldwin passed over the reins to the very capable Harrison Ford – far and away the best Jack Ryan on screen (if not overly faithful to the novels…) – who went on to star as Jack Ryan one more time in the direct successor to ‘Patriot Games’: 1994’s ‘Clear and Present Danger’.
Both films were directed by Australian Phillip Noyce whose two biggest previous films up to that point was the great boat thriller ‘Dead Calm’ with a crazed Billy Zane attacking a still-green (and curly, red-haired) Nicole Kidman and the peculiar ‘Blind Fury’ with Rutger Hauer playing a blind swordsman (?!) and both share a cast that besides Ford includes James Earl Jones as Ryan’s friend and boss Admiral James Greer (carrying his role over from ‘The Hunt for Red October’), Anne Archer as Ryan’s wife Dr. Cathy and Thora Birch as the Ryans’ daughter.
I like both equally with each pic getting a nice supporting cast and strong action set-pieces. ‘Clear and Present Danger’ is the longer and louder of the two due to the requisite trumped-up needs of a sequel, but both stories are involving and Ford is outstanding in a role that he excels at – the conflicted man of action. ‘Patriot Games’ sees Ryan getting caught up with a violent sect of the IRA when he interferes with an IRA assassination that saves a member of the Royal family but gets the brother of an IRA terrorist (Sean Bean) killed.
And of course, he wouldn’t be your average terrorist if he didn’t vow revenge for his brother. Besides Sean Bean, Richard Harris and James Fox both pop up in strong supporting roles and Ford and Noyce keep the film moving to its genuinely exciting if overblown boat chase climax.
The more ambitious sequel has Ford taking over for Greer as Deputy Director of Intelligence where he becomes embroiled in the nasty labyrinth of higher-up politics that will test his “Boy Scout”-like view of truth and justice and how it fits in with American policy. When a friend of the President is murdered and suspicions lead to Columbian drug cartels, the President, in not so many words, orders an illegal attack against them.
With a small military force dispatched to battle unbeknownst to Ryan, who secured financing on the condition that there would be no use of military, a double-cross ends up leaving American troops stranded and left to die at the hands of the drug lords. When Ryan learns the truth, he risks his own life to join up with the troops’ field operative (Willem Dafoe) to infiltrate the drug compound and save the troops.
Which brings us to 2002s ‘The Sum of All Fears’, a tolerable if ultimately disappointing continuation of the franchise and its telling that it’s been five years since this pic with no word of a future installment. A success in theaters, due mostly to a CGI-laden trailer, the pic is a mostly indifferent affair with a bland Ben Affleck in the unfitting role of Jack Ryan.
While Ford and Noyce were both involved with the pic early on at the script stage, both dropped out and left producer Mace Neufeld with the sad option to “reimagine” the Jack Ryan character and make him younger and take a story that belonged in the Cold War-era and update it – a decision that leaves us with ridiculously dated antagonists.
Most notorious for being one of the first pics to feature a huge Terrorist attack set-piece (the pic was filmed before 9/11 and released the summer after), everything else comes across as strictly ho-hum.
A convoluted plot with very few scenes other than the aforementioned attack having any staying power, we basically have a pic driven by East-West tensions where the American government suspects Russia is harboring secret nuclear weapons. Ryan comes into play through CIA Director William Cabot (Morgan Freeman) who unbelievably puts a lot of trust into this young analyst as he once wrote a paper on the newly elected Russian president and even predicted his ascension.
As the two nuclear powerhouses come close to a no-win scenario, there is some tension, but the realism of this climatic sequence plays out too expediently – it could’ve easily been a plot strand from ‘Independence Day’ as far as stretching credibility goes. The pic aims for some of the slight humor and familial threads that the Ford pics have with focus on Ryan’s very early relationship with Dr. Cathy but it mostly falls flat.
While James Cromwell as the President does a fine job, even Morgan Freeman struggles to make much of an impression. The film’s not terrible but it fails to captivate like the other pics do.
All of the films are presented in their original aspect ratios of 2.35:1 with an HD AVC encode. ‘The Sum of All Fears’ predictably looks the best due to its newer age with vibrant colors and deep blacks. Some edge enhancement here and there keeps the transfer from being perfect but there’s no question this is an HD transfer.
The rest of the pics, spread out over four years, show a little age with ‘Patriot Games’ being the weakest of the transfers but all are quite respectable. This will definitely be the best these films will look at home for a long, long time.
Each pic gets its own Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks that get the job done with the more impressive sounds increasing as the age of the film decreases. As I said earlier, none of these pics have any special features, although the packaging error will, of course, be fixed by the time this set hits shelves.
A solid collection that includes three great pics and one mediocre pic that would be for completists only, the transfers look great but the lack of special features hurts it (particularly considering that special features were announced for the set).
If you’re a fan of the franchise and your only concern is HD video and audio, then this set comes recommended just be aware that a rerelease of this set with special features will happen at some point.
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