Jack Ryan is back and he looks like Harrison Ford. This second film in the adventures of the CIA analyst finds him in the middle of a terrorist attack. He foils it, but kills one of the attacker’s brother and now it’s personal.
Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is in London with his wife Cathy (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally (Thora Birch) on a working vacation giving a lecture. Cathy and Sally are out on a tourist walkabout and the three are going to meet on a London street after Jack’s lecture.
Lord William Holmes (James Fox), British secretary of state for Northern Ireland and the Queen’s cousin, is being transported down that street when a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army attacks Holmes’ motorcade. Ryan intervenes, kills one of the attackers, is wounded, and holds another at bay until the police arrive.
The surviving terrorist is Sean Miller (Sean Bean) and he swears revenge on Ryan since the dead man is Sean’s brother. Ryan is awarded a knighthood (Knight Commander of the Victorian Order) for saving Holmes and returns to America. The leader of the splinter group, Kevin O’Donnell (Patrick Bergin), breaks Miller out of jail and the first thing on his mind is getting to America to make sure that Ryan and family pay.
I remember watching Patriot Games and thinking that it was a good movie. I then found out that the novel had Prince Charles as the endangered royal and that struck me as much more interesting than the film’s Lord Holmes. The book even went further and made the royal couple Jack’s next child’s godparents.
Harrison Ford takes over the role after turning it down in Hunt for Red October and he makes a fine, older Ryan. Of course, he is Harrison Ford – movie star, so I’m sure the producers were elated.
I would’ve liked to have seen what Alec Baldwin would’ve done with the role, but he had other commitments and didn’t return. There are some great action sequences but there are also several scenes that reflect that it’s probably really like in the CIA.
Those would be scenes of analysts going over tons of records and brainstorming to see what the bad guys are up to. Not exactly the glam life of James Bond is it? Again, as with Hunt for Red October, there are some wonderful faces in the supporting cast.
James Earl Jones returns as Admiral Greer and plays him with the majesty that Jones can channel. The late, great Richard Harris also shines in a small role as a representative of the IRA. The ending of the film didn’t test well and the filmmakers went back and made it more of an action smashup with some reshoots.
This feels a bit false, though exciting, and seems to be a bit different than what preceded it and seems like it was manufactured to give one last action sequence. There are some moves by Bean’s character that seem a little false, such as how he turns on his comrades. The film is still good and Ford steps into the role well.
Patriot Games is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features include the 25 minute “Patriot Games Up Close” which has interviews with director Phillip Noyce, Ford, and a host of other cast and crew (circa 2002). Finally there’s the 2 minute theatrical trailer in high definition.
Patriot Games is a find continuation of the story of Jack Ryan and has some thrills as well as some moments with the Ryan family. The big “let’s go out with a bang” action finale seems to have been manufactured due to some bad test cards and feels that way.
Sadly, what we don’t get on the special features is the original ending so we could compare for ourselves (it could not exist anymore, but I can’t imagine a studio discarding such in 1992). So was it a boy or a girl?
Patriot Games [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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