Review of Patriot Games (1992) by Bobby N — 29 Feb 2016

I feel like the movie, Patriot Games, directed by Phillip Noyce was a good movie. If I were to rate the movie out of five, I would give the movie a four out of five. The movie did a good job following the book, but they left out some big parts and other small parts of the book.

The beginning of the movie had some action because Ryan got in a gunfight with the IRA terrorists who were trying to assassinate the Royal family. Then after the assassination attempt was stopped by Ryan, the movie slowed down. They had Ryan in the hospital, then sent home to Maryland, and then continuing to live his life until he gets the news that the captured IRA terrorist got out of police custody. After Ryan got the news, the suspension was building up.

You watched Sean Miller plot his revenge on Ryan and his family for killing his younger brother. Sean had some of his people try to kill Ryan outside of his work while Sean went after Ryan's wife and daughter. Since Ryan killed Miller's brother, he would kill Ryan's wife and daughter. After Miller tried to kill Ryan's wife and daughter the suspense kept on building. As the movie went on, you started to think when would Miller try to kill Ryan.

Then at the end of the movie, it took place at Ryan's house. Miller and his people went to kill Ryan. Ryan and his people were looking through his house, but because Ryan was apart of the Marines he knew how to evade an enemy. Ryan's wife and daughter were upstairs hiding because one of Miller's people was on there way up. When the IRA member got closer to where Ryan's wife and daughter was, you started to think if something was going to happen to them, but they are main character so you knew nothing was going to happen to them. Ryan and family evaded the IRA members and ran away from the house. Ryan and his family ran to the boats they own and Ryan decided that he would make Miller think they all went on the boats. You knew in this ending scene that one of them is going to live or both of them will die.

Miller's people thought their mission was the Prince of Wales who was visiting Ryan, but Miller's mission was to kill Ryan. Miller and his people saw that Ryan was the only one on the boat so the IRA members told Miller that their mission was to get the Prince, but they ended getting killed because they tried to tell Miller to turn the boat around. You didn't expect that Miller would kill his own people. It was a jaw dropping moment. Miller kept going with the mission. Miller caught up with Ryan and jumped on his boat. They started to fight it out on a moving boat on the ocean during a storm. The adrenaline was rushing watching and waiting to see what happens. In the end, Ryan ends of pushing Miller into an anchor and killing him.

Like I said in the intro, the movie did a good job following the book, but left out some big parts of the book. In the book, while Ryan was in the hospital, the doctor said that Ryan had nerve damage in his shoulder and might not be able to use his arm. In the movie, they had Ryan in the hospital for a few days then sent him home. In the movie, after Ryan gets back home asks Ryan if he wants to work at the CIA again as an analyst, but Ryan says no until his wife and daughter are sent to the hospital after being attacked. In the book, Ryan is asked to work again at the CIA and Ryan decided to work there part-time. Then in the book, after Ryan's wife and daughter are attacked and are sent to the hospital, Ryan is surprised to see his father-in-law there because they haven't spoken for three years. In the movie, Ryan's father-in-law was never there. A smaller part that was in the book, but not in the movie is that Miller was helped by an African-American terrorist organization.

Then at the ending of the book, the Prince and Princess of Wales came to visit and have dinner with the Ryan's. Then Robby and Sissy Jackson came over too. They got the news that there were shootings near by. In the movie, only the Prince of Wales went to the Ryan's, but both Robby and Sissy Jackson went too. Then there was no shootings in the area too. In the final part of the movie, Miller and his IRA members broke into Ryan's home to kill Ryan and take the Prince of Wales. Ryan, his family, the Prince, and the Jackson's escaped the house and ended up leading Miller to the boats. Ryan took one of the boats to let the others escape. Miller and his IRA members took the other boat and chased Ryan. Miller and his people realized that the others weren't with Ryan. They tried to turn the boat around, but ended up getting killed because they would of stopped Miller's mission. Miller caught up with Ryan and jumped into his boat. Ryan and Miller started to fight.

At the end of the fight, Ryan killed Miller by pushing him into an anchor. Ryan saw that they were about to crash into a rock so he jumped off. The FBI hostage rescue team was looking for the boat, but didn't have any luck until they saw the explosion from boat. In the book, the Prince pilots the boat and heads to Annapolis Naval Academy where military personnel help.

This movie did a good job following the book, but left out some big parts. It got stale at some parts of the movie, but it was pretty good overall. Like I said, I would give it a four out of five. The actors and actresses were good, but they probably could've found some other actors or actresses.