Patriot Games (1992)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1992
	Director: Phillip Noyce (The Saint)
	Actors: Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones 1-4), Sean Bean (Cleanskin, Black Death), Anne Archer, Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian), Tora Birch (American Beauty)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 29.01.2015, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: During a visit to Great Britain with his family, former CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Ford) rescues a member of the Royal family from a kidnapping attempt. While doing so, he attracted the wrath of Sean (Bean), one of the kidnapper whose brother he killed.
Review: After The Sum of all Fears and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, I continue with the series of adaptation from the novels by Tom Clancy. I found that old DVD of Patriot Games in my vault and decided to watch it instead of buying a new Blu-ray. Well, it looks like the DVD dates from the early days of the technology, because the image quality is barely better than a VHS one! So I cannot really comment on the looks of the movie (I saw only poor grain, colors and compression) although I noticed the quality of the framing and some shots that probably look beautiful on a HD support. I didn't like the story so much, because the troubles Jack Ryan get into are only due to bad luck, and have nothing to do with his talents as analyst, or with his knowledge of Russia. And the threat is only on his family and not on the whole world like it is in his other filmed adventures. But this put aside, the story is very well told, in a very realistic fashion: no super-fast car races or action scenes involving the aging Jack Ryan who is not anymore as fit as when he was portrayed by Ben Affleck or John Cusack. The suspense is very well managed and shown by director Philip Noyce (I have ordered the Blu-ray of Clear and Present Danger that he also directed), and the terrorists are really extreme in their beliefs, in particular Ryan's archenemy played by a young Sean Bean.
Rating: 6 /10