Review of Patriot Games

Introduction

Patriot Games sees Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan return to the screen fresh from the hit movie Hunt for Red October. This time Ryan (played by Harrison Ford) breaks up an assassination attempt on a member of the British Royal family whilst on vacation in London. During the attempt Ryan kills one of the terrorists, the younger brother of Sean Miller (Sean Bean). The Irish terrorist group behind the attack don’t take kindly to this and fuelled by Sean Miller’s thirst for revenge they target Ryan and his family.

Of course Jack Ryan isn’t going to take this lying down so rejoins the CIA to track down the terrorist group for the sake of his family.

Video

The anamorphic widescreen picture is clear and sharp with no visible marks on the film’s print. The colours don’t look as bright as they should do in certain scenes in my opinion however this is probably nitpicking on my part. This is also a huge improvement over the picture quality on Hunt for Red October so a thumbs up from me.

It’s worth noting that the Region 1 release is non-anamorphic so a surprise bonus for this disc over it’s imported counterpart.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very good. With several large explosions giving the sub woofer a good workout and great use of the rear channels a lively and involving soundstage is created. Dialogue is crisp and doesn’t stray and all in all a very good soundtrack.

I do, however, have a large problem with the score. Composed by James Horner (Titanic, Braveheart and many more) I was expecting something pretty special. Titanic rates as my favourite score along with numerous others by James Horner as close contenders. What you get for the most part of this soundtrack is a reworking of his earlier score for the movie Aliens. The opening music to Aliens (where Ripley is drifting in space) is repeated often and every time I heard it I was distracted from the movie and started to think of Aliens, to the point I’m going to watch Aliens again very soon. A real shame.

Features

Oooooooooooooooooo, one whole trailer . . . sigh. Note that the Region 1 release was devoid of extras as well.

Conclusion

Patriot Games had a tough act to follow being the sequel to the excellent Hunt for Red October. Very cleverly, for whatever reasons, Harrison Ford replaces Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan so immediately sets the movie up as a stand alone effort which has never really had to live up to it’s predecessor.

Harrison Ford does a much better job with the character of Jack Ryan. Still very much the reluctant hero he is a family man who will do whatever it takes to protect them. You can see the torment on his face and he really gives you a character you can empathise with. I’m a big fan of Harrison Ford and this movie reaffirms his acting talents. Sean Bean plays a great villain and balances out Ford’s good guy nicely. Other cast members include James Earl Jones reprising his role as the head of the CIA, Admiral James Greer, and an appearance from Samuel L Jackson as LCDR Robby Jackson, a long time friend of Ryan’s.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it and I thoroughly enjoyed it again on DVD also. Directed by Phillip Noyce (Daed Calm) the movie rolls along at a good pace and has some great set pieces. The tension really builds when the terrorists are homing in on Ryan’s wife (Ann Archer) and the SAS scene works amazingly well considering what you don’t see.

Overall this is a great movie on a good quality DVD only lacking in the extras department. Definitely recommended.