Customer Reviews

Clear and Present Danger

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(I wrote this for the original, out of stock version)

Clear and Present Danger (1994 film)

The third film in the Jack Ryan series (and the last one to star Harrison Ford) deals with America's war on drugs and also the abuse of power in high places. As in Clancy's original novel, the plot hinges on one crucial question: how far can a President go to achieve a laudable goal, even if the means cross moral, legal and international boundaries?

As in the novel of the same name, the interception of an American-flagged yacht in the Caribbean results in the arrest of two Colombian "sicarios" (hit men) who have murdered the American owner (along with his entire family). The resulting FBI-CIA investigation reveals that Peter Hardin, the late yacht owner and personal friend of the U.S. President (Donald Moffat), had extensive ties to the Cali drug cartel. Hardin, as Jack Ryan (Ford) explains, had been skimming millions from his "partners," thus sealing his fate.

Although Ryan is aware that the President is understandably upset that his late friend was a money launderer for the drug lords, he is not aware that the National Security Advisor, Admiral James Cutter (Harris Yulin) and his CIA colleague Bob Ritter (Henry Czerny) have been given off-the-record orders to do "something about the drugs pouring into the country." When the President declares to Cutter that the drug cartels pose a "clear and present danger" to the United States, the somewhat slimy admiral and Ritter unleash several covert operations within the sovereign nation of Colombia.

While Ryan does get orders to go to Bogotá and find out about Hardin's financial dealings with the Cali Cartel, he is totally unaware that Cutter and Ritter have launched Operation Reciprocity, a clandestine invasion of Colombia by Spanish-speaking special-ops troops. These forces, supervised by ex-CIA field officer John Clark (Willem Dafoe), wreak havoc as they blow up drug labs and smuggling aircraft. Nevertheless, Cutter and Ritter keep Ryan in the dark, and the upright analyst and now acting Deputy Director (Intelligence) unknowingly tells a Senate subcommittee that there are no troop deployments planned for Colombia.

Further complicating Ryan's life is the sudden discovery that his boss and mentor, Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones), is dying of cancer. Little does he know that his ascent to Greer's job will propel Ryan into the middle of a life and death situation in Colombia...and a constitutional crisis at home.

What makes the Jack Ryan books and movies work is not just the slam-bam action sequences or the glimpses at the mysterious workings of the CIA, but the very notion that a CIA employee can be portrayed as an honorable and decent fellow. Tom Clancy clearly desired to show that the agents and analysts who work for the CIA are not the "dark forces" depicted in films such as "Three Days of the Condor" or "Firefox." Nor are they martini-swilling, trigger happy, bed-hopping super-spies like James Bond. Ford (like Alec Baldwin before him, and like Ben Affleck after) shows Ryan has intelligence, courage, and, above all, integrity.

As in Patriot Games, Ford also shares a few short yet important scenes with his wife and two children. Ann Archer and Thora Birch returned to play Ryan's wife Cathy and daughter Sally, giving Ryan that most un-Bond-like sense of family and a tie to the audience.

Although the screenplay by Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillan, and John (Red Dawn) Millius strip the huge and complex Clancy novel to its bare essentials and changes many scenes and situations, Ford's acting and Philip Noyce's able directing makes Clear and Present Danger a top-notch action thriller. Even though as in Patriot Games the ending is rendered in a good-guy vs. bad-guy shootout (whereas in the novel the ending for the villains was more subtle and thereby more chilling), this movie is still worth watching.

The DVD I own is Paramount's first barebones release. Of course, even that is an improvement over the pan-and-scan "full screen" VHS tape I had previously owned. The movie has been restored to its original Widescreen presentation, given Dolby digital audio in both English and French, Spanish subtitles, English captions, interactive menus, and the theatrical trailer. The newer version has commentary tracks, making-of featurettes, and other extras.

Not only is this a very well-directed and action-packed movie, it also has one of the best surround sound-encoded tracks available on DVD releases. If you have a dolby digital 5.1 surround system, this movie will really overwhelm you. The explosions will shake the ground....a true theater experience without going to the theater.

This is one of two films based on Clancy's novels which really work, the other being The Hunt for Red October. It is certainly far superior to Patriot Games in terms of plausibility and cohesion of narrative, quality of acting, exploration of central issues, and ultimate resolution of various conflicts. I do think the escape by helicopter from one drug lord's compound was overdone but the film concludes appropriately with Ryan's final conversation with President Bennett (Donald Moffatt) and then his arrival at the subcommittee hearing chaired by Senator Mayo (Hope Lange). I still would have preferred that Alec Baldwin continue as Jack Ryan but concede that Harrison Ford is far more credible in this film than he was in Patriot Games, perhaps because he and his colleagues were working with a much better screenplay, one on which John Milius collaborated with Donald E. Stewart and Steve Zaillian. (It should be noted that Stewart and Zaillian also collaborated on the screenplay and must share at least some of the blame for Patriot Games' inadequacies. Both films were also directed by Phillip Noyce, another accomplice.) Having the President of the United States actively involved in Danger's narrative gives it a unique substance, to be sure, but also affords valuable opportunities to explore moral corruption and political expediency at the highest levels of government.

There are several outstanding performances, including Moffatt's in a difficult role as is Henry Czerny's as Robert Ritter, deputy director of the C.I.A. and Ryan's principal adversary; also Willem Dafoe as Clark and Harris Yulin as Cutter. Anne Archer reprises her do-nothing-but-beam role as Cathy Ryan, adoring wife; James Earl Jones also reprises his role as Admiral James Greer whose health problems deny Ryan his mentor and friend's assistance when needed most. This is a "techno-thriller" in several respects but its special effects are almost never gratuitous. An important sub plot involves Moira Wolfson (Ann Magnuson) who is the F.B.I. director's administrative assistant and a key source of classified information which she provides to Felix Cortes (brilliantly played by Joaquim DeAlmeida) whom she believes to be a reputable businessman, not knowing that he is a key operative for one of the Colombian drug lords. Wolfson loves Cortes to death, literally.

Lots of well-staged action, including an ambush of the F.B.I. director and his entourage, another ambush of American troops in the jungle (a callous and bloody betrayal by their government), a missile attack on the drug lords and their families, and the final helicopter escape by Ryan and Clark. As in The Hunt for Red October, the story line sustains the film's momentum, aided by generally solid performances. I do not consider this film an indictment of any specific administration or foreign policy. Clancy is primarily a storyteller, not a polemicist. The United States will continue to have clear and present dangers no matter who is in the White House. When this film was first released (in 1994), one reviewer suggested that it was inspired in part by some of former C.I.A. director William Casey's elaborate schemes for secret operations against the drug lords. (I have no idea whether or not that is true.) In any event, I find this a thoroughly entertaining, well-made film and look forward to seeing it again.

This movie is based on a Tom Clancy novel and it is simply awesome. The plot and subplots are well thought through and the execution as a motion picture is extremely well done. The story is about drug lords in Colombia who are connected to the folks behind secret doors in Washington. By direct order of the President, CIA agent Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) has to solve the murders of a wealthy businessman and his family. The hunt takes Ryan back and forth between Washington and South America. More killings happen and the action becomes intense. Finally, there's a dangerous field operative (Willem Dafoe) who conducts covert operations for the U.S. government. The movie contains excellent cinematography, drama and action. We've watched it many times and it's always a delight as it is one of these rare breathtaking quality thrillers one will want to watch over and over again.

The third installment in the cinematic series based on Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER is a long but engrossing political action thriller that once again puts Harrison Ford, the thinking man's action film actor, in the role of Ryan.

This time around, Ford investigates the murder of a close friend of the President (Donald Moffatt) by Colombian drug cartel hitmen. When his mentor (James Earl Jones) falls ill due to pancreatic cancer, Ford is suddenly put in charge as deputy director of the CIA. He continues his investigation of the murders and ties them in with one particular drug cartel leader (Miguel Sandoval) with whom the murdered man had a little issue with ill-gotten money,....

But what Ford doesn't know is that, on orders from the revenge-minded Moffatt, his second deputy (Henry Czerny) and the president's national security advisor (Harris Yulin) have ordered a rogue officer named Clark (Willem Dafoe) in with a covert military team to put a huge dent in the cartel's activities. Dafoe and his team are successful at what they do, but the cartels retaliate with deadly results on Ford's friends in the FBI during a visit to Bogota. And when Ford finds out about the operation, he finds himself going down to Colombia a second time to help spirit Dafoe and the covert team out of harm's way.

Ably directed, once more, by Phillip Noyce (DEAD CALM; PATRIOT GAMES), CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER gives Ford another chance to prove his mettle in the action genre. The suspense and CIA intrigue are all laid out exceptionally well by Noyce and his first-rate cadre of screenwriters, Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillian, and John Milius. Jones is at his usual best as the now-dying Admiral Greer, and Anne Archer returns as Ford's wife.

But a performance really worth noting here is Czerny's as the unconsciously corrupt CIA deputy director Robert Ritter. About as uncouth and conniving a heavy as there has ever been in the movies, his performance is absolutely chilling and believable. It makes the whole notion of our government going beyong reasonable bounds even more credible than it already is.

Some will object to the film not pandering to Clancy's right-wing political points of view or his gung-ho pro-military stance, but that isn't necessarily what this movie is about. It does not condemn covert military action, but it does question the wisdom of sending men into a war zone where the risks are extreme, the reasons for such actions are vague at best, and there is no clear exit strategy. Such points are made extremely well in this film's action format; and for those reasons, it gets the highest marks.

Harrison Ford gets appointed as CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. His first assignment is to investigate the murder of one of the President's friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels. Enough said, An action packed movie with an excellent story behind it that keeps you stuck to your couch from start to finish wishing the movie was an hour longer. The quality of the DVD is excellent with DTS , so prepare yourself to some great sound effects. Highly recommended.

As a long time fan of the many Tom Clancy's techno-thrillers, I was amazed at just how fine a job had been done in dramatizing the complex, quite literate, and endlessly evolving plot that Clancy used to such advantage in spinning "Clear And Present Danger", a story about how the intelligence and political communities intersect and overlap, often with disastrous results for the democratic process. Here the erstwhile Jack Ryan is thrust into the hot seat as his long-time mentor Admiral James Greer (played By James Earl Jones) is forced by health into taking sick leave and Ryan (Harrison Ford) is tapped to take his place as the Acting Deputy Director for Counter Intelligence (DCI) within the CIA. As such he is sucked into the somewhat murky effort to investigate the circumstances surrounding the grisly murder of a millionaire businessman who was a personal friend of the current President.

Ryan quickly discovers a Columbian drug connection, with one of the biggest and most dangerous cartels, and further traces what appears to be a money laundering operation that the dead entrepreneur was investing in legitimate businesses in the United States. Informed of this, the President quit publicly impounds the funds, and initiates a spiral of events that eventually spin way out of control. Thus, once again the game is afoot. Ryan must tread softly but quickly to counter the deft moves made by another CIA deputy director who is blindsiding the Agency while serving the President's National Security Advisor.

The game gets hotter and hotter, with so much action and so much suspense building up that it is impossible not to appreciate and enjoy. The is a wonderful film, one that will stir your patriotic juices as the same time it raises your pulse rooting for Ryan to right the grievous wrongs perpetrated on some American special forces troopers who are intentionally stranded in-country to fend for themselves as they find themselves caught in the middle of the quickly changing political and strategic circumstances. Harrison Ford is terrific as Jack Ryan, reprising his takeover of it in "Patriot Games".

Also superb (as usual) is Willem Defoe playing John "Jack" Clark, our man on the ground in Columbia, and relative newcomer Joaquim de Almeida as the deadly head of security for the Escobedia family cartel. Miguel Sandoval is convincingly menacing as the cartel's front man Ernesto Escobedia. Of course, the photography and special effects are masterful and heighten the degree of suspense and realism of the quickly transpiring action sequences. I. This is a spy-thriller of the first magnitude, one I have watched again and again for it is such eye-candy and so exciting that I find myself caught up in it each time I sit down to enjoy it. I hope you will too. Enjoy!

Is there anything that Harrison Ford can't do?

Ford stars as Jack Ryan in a follow-up to the successful PATRIOT GAMES. This time out, he finds himself tightly wound into a plot involving the US's highest elected officer -- that's right, the President -- in a failed campaign of the secret drug war. The script is actually penned by Clancy (along with John Milius), and it has an air of authenticity lacking in the other Ryan thrillers: it's a real story set in real place with real villains and real consequences, which makes for a more layered thriller than GAMES or THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.

Excellent supporting performances are turned in by Anne Archer (Mrs. Jack Ryan), Willem Dafoe, and Henry Czerny.

Clear and Present Danger was one of the best movies i've ever seen. It has a great deal of action, and blood, and all the other good stuff. It dosent deter far from the plot of the book. If you're thinking of buying it, i would recomend it for all people who like action.

A really taught thriller with a detailed plot that twists all over. It was fun to watch this film again and marvel at how well-directed it is. A great script and Harrison Ford is awesome as Jack Ryan. The supporting cast, particularly Henry Czerny as the nasty CIA Operations Director, Robert Ritter, is also terrific.

The High Def transfer looks great. I had read some complaints about it, but I saw no pixilation or artifacts. In fact, I was amazed at the detail, particularly noticeable in the stitching on clothes! I compared it to my DVD, which was grainy and couldn't compare at all.

The True HD sound is really spectacular, highlighting the powerful and brassy James Horner score and a large array of explosions.

If you're a fan of these films, it's definitely worth the buy. This film hasn't looked and sounded this good since it's original theatrical release!