Sean Bean is the new Malcolm McDowell of the film world. No matter what type of part he gets, his face and demeanor will always end of up with the same conclusion… ‘bad guy’.
Can you af’Ford’ to miss this Jack Ryan adventure?
Jack Ryan is back! This time, instead of helping a Russian captain of a submarine defect to the United States, he’s serving up some major arse-whooping for IRA terrorists. When Jack gives a lecture in London,he finds himself in the middle of saving Lord William Holmes’s family in an IRA assassination attempt. Ryan ends up killing one IRA and causing another to get captured. The IRA victim is brother to IRA arrested evil-guy Sean Miller. Miller redirects his terrorist anger at Ryan and lives to see Ryan and his family die for Jack’s killing bullet on Sean’s brother. Miller somehow escapes the clutches of London’s finest and starts to initiate his one objective… kill Ryan and his family.
Most people enjoy The Hunt for Red October,which has more to do with thinking than action. When Alec Baldwin introduced the character of Jack Ryan on screen, it was done with a small thud. He built the character around intelligence more than action. Fast-forward about three years, Jack Ryan comes back and this time Harrison Ford picks up the reins of the character. This time around though, Jack Ryan is more action than talk. He’s still has that intelligent feel to him, but now he’s gotten a bit of Indiana Jones action involved. It’s quite a shift of roles for the Jack Ryan character, but it is certainly well-done. You actually sit and say,”I wouldn’t want to piss off Jack Ryan.” That’s the type of character Ford makes him out to be.
The story is a simple one, certainly told before in Hollywood. It’s a simple story of revenge and counter-revenge. Good guy does the right thing, but ends up becoming involved in something terrible, pays for the involvement than quickly takes on and out the antagonizer. It’s been told before, but what a ride this is! It’s good from beginning to end, suffers from little to no dead-period and brings an intelligent story underneath a nice set of tense action. It’s pure enjoyment in the most serious way.
Out of all the Jack Ryan stories on the big screen, this is the pinnacle of them.
You can almost hear the John William’s Indiana…. oh… wrong movie. Still entertaining!
Iwill say this until I’m blue in the face (no pun intended), action and Blu-ray belong together! They were made for each other and action films like this really show off why. You get gorgeous visuals, especially when you’re in the London scenes and the desert scenes. The music and explosions come off very intense, if not a wee bit loud at times, which makes for a joyous time for your ears. This is such a well-balanced presentation that you’ll be happy to own that Blu-ray player of yours.
The one featurette included isn’t bad, but I would have loved to see just a bit more to the Blu-ray. The Blu-ray technology brings such an open range of options that it would be sad not to see it used to the proper extent. I’m happy that Paramount did put a nice featurette on here.
Jack? Jack?! JACK!
Again, Patriot Games isthe pinnacle of the Jack Ryan movies. It brings a well-balanced amountof action, suspense and drama. Add to this a more high-powered JackRyan, courtesy of Harrison Ford, and you’ve got yourself one greatBlu-ray. Regardless of special features, it’s still worth the money andtime.
