Review of Clear and Present Danger (1994) by Miles H — 11 Feb 2008

Despite what you may have heard, this is a pretty good international thriller, and it's more timely than ever today, in the midst of the Bush/Cheney dynasty. Noyce and Ford return with much of the same cast and crew of "Patriot Games", only their work here is much better and more refined.

Ford was never bad (is that even possible) to begin with, but he takes the Jack Ryan role a step further here and injects him with the necessary morality that the character lacked in the previous film.

Anne Archer still plays a pretty thankless role, but luckily, for her and us, her screentime is minimal. The real villains of the film are terrifying and very watchable. I don't mean the drug lords.

I mean the US political leaders: Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, and Donald Moffat. These are truly cold blooded monsters, and their real life counterparts have seized Washington today. The film presents itself as a CIA thriller, but it ends up throwing the agency out the window and exposing its long neglected brutality and violent side, before it was popular to do so in movies.

It's a far more mature and honest film than the other Tom Clancy adaptations. That being said, it's not perfect. There are some action scenes that feel interjected, and some of the more interesting characters such as Benjamin Bratt and Willem DaFoe, aren't developed quite enough.

Nevertheless, it makes for compelling viewing.