SummaryWhen his mentor Admiral James Greer (Jones) becomes gravely ill, Jack Ryan (Ford) is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. His first assignment: investigate the murder of one of the President's friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels. Unbeknownst to Ryan, the CIA has already dispat...
SummaryWhen his mentor Admiral James Greer (Jones) becomes gravely ill, Jack Ryan (Ford) is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. His first assignment: investigate the murder of one of the President's friends, a prominent U.S. businessman with secret ties to Colombian drug cartels. Unbeknownst to Ryan, the CIA has already dispat...
The filmmakers haven't simply tamed the rogue elephant of Clancy's narrative; they've turned it into something that moves as gracefully and as powerfully as a gazelle.
In my opinion, it's the best, thrilling, and the most anticipated movie of the franchise and most importantly one of my favorite movies of all time so far!
Earlier Clancy films alternated between the dull and the ridiculous. First-rate writers like Steven Zaillian and the great John Milius have managed to make this considerably meatier.
We have seen a lot of movies about US government covert operations. This is just one more. The script is not difficult to explain: at sea, the family of a US president's friend is massacred by a Colombian drug cartel, and it turns out that there were interests and business between them. Realizing the power of the cartels, the US president, backed by the CIA director general, decides to make the phrase "war on drugs" literal by ordering a covert operation that aims to dismantle the cartel. An operation that will be funded directly by the Senate without anyone - not even Jack Ryan, who makes the request for funding - knows that the money will be used to send soldiers to the ground.
The movie is nothing particularly different from many others involving the same ingredients. There is a group of serious men who are really trying to stop that drug cartel without doing anything illegal, and others who will not look at the means, and do not mind sacrificing some innocent lives in the process. There are truly good action scenes, although the movie was not made as an action movie. Personally, I consider the Bogotá ambush and chase scenes one of the best in the movie. The sound, visual and sound effects are those that existed at the time, and they do well as expected. Phillip Noyce did a good job as a director.
As for the actors, we have a good Harrison Ford, convincing and capable in the leading role. Willem Dafoe is equally capable in his role. Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, and Donald Moffat have all managed to be truly machiavellian, as good career politicians, and made their characters truly obnoxious. Miguel Sandoval did well as Escobedo, but the one who impressed me the most was Joaquim de Almeida. The Portuguese actor, who appears humbly almost halfway through the film, gradually reveals himself and makes his character one of the most important for the outcome of the film. He is an excellent actor, even though his background makes him better known to the Portuguese than to the American public.
Not being a brilliant movie, nor original in its essence, its able to entertain the audience and give us a good story. It has a good and committed cast, fulfilling its purpose and giving us a good final product.
Clear and present danger is a decent clancy thriller yet some greater moments feel hampered by a slightly 'off' pacing issue. The political drama here feels a little weak compared to other ryan outings but all in all its a great addition to the series.
Clear and Present Danger is almost as good as Patriot Games, but its downfall is that it moves more slowly and is less intense, so that by the time an action scene happens the tension has died down. Nevertheless, Ford is still great and the movie is still thrilling.
unstable and out-dated mishap of politics..
Cleared And Present Danger
2 And A Half Out Of 5
Clear And Present Danger is a plot driven political thriller about a culmination of all the usual agendas that fuels an act of war, brewing in by the darker forces. Ticking for almost two and a half hours, the overkill sets in early due to its subjective procedure that is not only off-putting but also follows a textbook structure. All the action and chase sequences are nicely shot with amazing sound effects and fine editing amongst all the mind-numbing explosions. The politics and reasonings are justified with no usual flaws which doesn't suggest its excellence but the safe play that it plays. As much as lousy its final act grows the little tactics that used to work in its predecessor fails to upbeat or elevate the momentum as it used to. The writing is overstretched and not elaborative, there is a fine line between them that makers often crosses it unknowingly. The result of such acts can draw a nod out of the audience but fails to impress them. It is short on technical aspects like visual effects, background score and cinematography and neither is its camera work plausible for it to seek attention through it. Ford is bang on his bucks on revisiting his role with amazing supporting cast like Dafoe, Archer and Jones. Noyce; the director has done a decent work on executing the feature but the real culprit is its sloppy script that isn't sincere enough to breed the essential crisp out of the screen. The clean satirical political act and sharp sound effects are the only high points of the feature. Clear And Present Danger is an unstable and out-dated mishap of politics that may be accurately tossed but unfortunately overcooks its outcome.