Amazon.co.uk Review
This handsome box set collects together all three of the films based on Tom Clancy's hugely popular Jack Ryan books. In the first adaptation,
The Hunt for Red October, Alec Baldwin offers an interesting Ryan in this gripping submarine-set thriller directed by action auteur John McTiernan (
Predator,
Die Hard and
Die Hard With a Vengeance).
Red October also sports Sean Connery as the Russian nuclear submarine captain, his Scottish accent only cursorily disguised as per usual, attempting to defect to the West on his ship. Ryan must figure out his true motives for approaching the US. It all makes for an exceptionally handsome movie with action sequences that really take one's breath away.
The second Clancy adaptation, Patriot Games, is the first to star Harrison Ford in the Ryan role. Recently voted the sexiest man alive in a popular poll, Ford's strong, silent shaggy presence brings more warmth to the CIA analyst part. Directed by Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm), this film has Ryan and his family on vacation when Ryan is called upon to save a member of the British royal family from attack by Irish terrorists, giving a new twist on the phrase "adventure holiday". Before you know it, the Ryan clan is being targeted by the same terrorists, who invade his Maryland home. Sean Bean as head baddie wreaks havoc on property and rivals Brad Pitt in the dodgy "Oirish" accent stakes, but no one is better than Ford at square-jawed righteous heroism.
He returns in Clear and Present Danger, the third instalment in the trilogy, also directed by Noyce, a more complex, rewarding, and bolder film than Patriot Games. Here Ryan is embroiled in a failed White House bid to wipe out a Colombian drug cartel and cover up the mess. The script, by Clancy and John Milius (Red Dawn), has an air of true adventure about it as Ryan places himself in harm's way to extract covert soldiers abandoned in a Latin-American jungle. There are a couple of expertly handled set pieces, especially a shocking scene involving an ambush on Ryan's car in an alley. The supporting cast is superb, including Willem Dafoe as the soldiers' leader, Henry Czerny as Ryan's enemy at the CIA, Joaquim de Almeida as a smooth-talking villain, Ann Magnuson as an unwitting confederate in international crime, and James Earl Jones as Ryan's dying boss. --Leslie Felperin
Synopsis
Three movies featuring the character Jack Ryan. In 'The Hunt For Red October' a Russian submarine captain who plans to defect is considered a threat by the American military and the Russian Navy. In 'Patriot Games' an American family on holiday in London is caught up in a terrorist attack on the Royal family. In 'Clear And Present Danger' Ryan is appointed acting CIA Director and finds himself caught-up in military operations against the Colombian drug lords.
