Siskel & Ebert Review Patriot Games (1992)

30 years later, Tom Clancy’s legacy proves it’s worth revisiting a Jack Ryan of the past

https://umlconnector.com/2022/02/30-years-later-tom-clancys-legacy-proves-its-worth-revisiting-a-jack-ryan-of-the-past/

Originally released on June 5, 1992, “Patriot Games” was directed by Philip Noyce and starred Harrison Ford as CIA Analyst Jack Ryan. The film loosely adapts Tom Clancy’s original novel of the same title, which features the consequences of Ryan’s actions for intervening in a terrorist attack committed by rogue Irish Republican Army members. When one of those members, Sean Miller, loses his younger brother to Ryan in self-defense, a spy game of retaliation and revenge begins when Miller escapes custody and targets Ryan’s family. When Jack has everything to lose, the two men, like a foil from different worlds, put their best skills to use as they each take the CIA and IRA toward war.

“Patriot Games” is a sequel to John McTiernan’s “The Hunt for Red October”, which featured Alec Baldwin as Ryan. Although “Patriot Games” does not live up to its predecessor, the resulting film feels very different from the get-go when you have a completely different director and lead actor take hold of the series. Noyce may not have crafted an espionage film as intricate as “The Hunt For Red October”. Though, what he’s done with “Patriot Games” opened up the “Jack Ryan” film franchise for a wider audience to enjoy.

“Patriot Games” possesses a lot more action than its predecessor, but as Ford has perceived it: this isn’t an action film but rather a film with action. Those sequences are grounded enough not to feel stapled on for the sake of entertainment. However, there are quite the inconsistencies between letting Ryan proceed with his calm office role of analyst, before suddenly throwing him into the heat of the moment.