Monday, January 16, 2012

Clear and Present Danger (1994, PG-13)


Directed by: Phillip Noyce

Grade: B—

I’m practically convinced now that the Jack Ryan film series wasn’t much of a viable movie franchise, and today, it seems as if the series has run out of fuel.  So far, the four installments include the indispensible submarine-thriller the Hunt for Red October, the unsteady but old-fashioned reprisal flick Patriot Games, the feasible Clear and Present Danger, and the later whimsy prequel, the Sum of all Fears.  Contrasting all four films is quite complicated, because each film is divergent from the other.  I don’t mean to take this to conflicting terms, as to where each film tries to improve upon its immediate predecessor.  Relatively, I’m feeling inclined to classifying the Jack Ryan film series as a collection of related, stand alone films. 

Clear and Present Danger serves better as a follow-up to Patriot Games then as a continuation of the series, because both films sport nearly the same exact cast and the same director (Philip Noyce).  Let it be no secret that Tom Clancy himself, author of the Jack Ryan novels, openly disdained Patriot Games for its faithlessness to his book.  I have absolutely no idea as to what Clancy felt about Clear and Present Danger, but the point here is that if Patriot Games was disliked by its own original author, then the follow up film (Clear and Present Danger) wouldn’t make a wise step in going all out to improving upon the previous film, but would by making a more faithful adaptation to its source: the original novel.  Besides, the resulting film will most likely turn out improved anyway. 

Director Philip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) takes a different approach to the series then the previous director John McTiernan (the Hunt for Red October).  Noyce, who has a strong passion for the spy genre, takes the Jack Ryan franchise to more of a semi-James Bondish loom.  No, no, there aren’t any of those asinine gadgets, fancy cars, and women to die for.  But there are exotic locations, old allies, and villains with a higher prospect in mind than might be practical.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Hunt for Red October was more rational, intricate, realistic and mind-bending; and therefore a superior show of force to either Patriot Games or Clear and Present Danger. 

Okay, now I’m really heading off course.  It’s time to reposition the train back on the tracks.  Clear and Present Danger is a film about honor, as Jack Ryan finds out.  The film explores the underlying themes of dirty politics, covert military operations and long-established topics of terrorism and infamous South American drug-dealing cartels doing moderate business in America.  Ryan gets promoted to the head of the CIA after Ryan’s close friend and current CIA director, James Greer, becomes diagnosed with a terminal case of cancer.  New director Ryan is unaware of the covert war waged by his subordinates upon the Columbian drug dealers, but as the hero of the film, it doesn’t take long for him to gain a hold of what’s going on.  When the military Special Forces team in Columbia is left behind, Ryan takes it upon himself to head into Columbia himself to find and rescue the trapped soldiers.

Clear and Present Danger displays its vigor in the authoritive, commanding performance delivered by Harrison Ford in the lead role, as well as the fast-moving, energetic sequence of events.   The character of Ryan is a potent one full of integrity, following his own set of guidelines: he’s a guy who you learn (the hard way) you don’t wanna mess with.  He’s just as valuable to the CIA as he is to his family, and in that way, he’s a nearly archetypal film hero.   At the same time though, the film exhibits an earnest show of setbacks: a shootout scene where Ryan is unrealistically the only survivor, an anti-climatic end fight sequence, which only leads to the nearly inconclusive ending, and the fact that there is nothing to prevent Clear and Present Danger from feeling as a hasty follow-up to Patriot Games.

Clear and Present Danger is willing to take risks, and it thrives with a better part of them.  However, in due course, it’s the risks that Clear and Present Danger fails to overcome that punch a lasting dent. 

B—

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