Thirty years in the past this month, the film model of Tom Clancy’s 1989 novel Clear and Present Danger sailed into theaters with Harrison Ford because the creator’s iconic hero, Jack Ryan. Ford had beforehand taken over the position from Alec Baldwin for 1992’s Patriot Games, however Clear and Present Danger marked his closing look as Ryan. In the three a long time since this movie’s launch, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine have performed Ryan on the large display screen, whereas John Krasinski headlined Amazon Prime Video’s Jack Ryan sequence.
Clear and Present Danger isn’t usually talked about right now, despite the fact that Ford was one of many prime motion heroes of his period and continues to be energetic in making high-profile motion pictures like final yr’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Does Clear and Present Danger maintain as much as scrutiny 30 years later? And is Jack Ryan probably the greatest roles of Ford’s profession, worthy of the huge quantities of consideration that his work as Han Solo or Indy will get? It’s time to have a look again and discover out.
Clear and Present Danger’s story was forward of its time
Although the Iran-Contra affair was nonetheless a latest occasion when Clancy printed Clear and Present Danger, the e book nonetheless appeared to be forward of the curve. By that point, the Cold War was winding down and the federal government was refocusing on the Drug War.
Clancy’s premise of the U.S. authorities funding a shadow conflict towards a cartel was all too plausible towards this backdrop. It additionally appears to foretell the best way that the federal government tried to downplay or deny misconduct from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a decade after the film got here out.
Harrison Ford was nonetheless a prime draw
Readers of the unique novel can attest that the script was reworked to offer Ford’s Jack Ryan an even bigger position to play. And extra asses to kick. It could be an exaggeration to name this one in every of Ford’s hottest motion motion pictures. But Nineties audiences beloved seeing Ford play the hits, which is why the movie made $215 million worldwide. That was lot of cash for 1994!
Even now that Clear and Present Danger is a long time previous, Ford continues to be the highest attraction for this film. The assassination try on Ryan can be probably the greatest components of the film, and it simply wouldn’t be the identical with out the actor. Ford put his stamp on Jack Ryan, one which different actors like Affleck and Pine simply couldn’t do.
The supporting forged is stellar … however doesn’t get a lot to do
In 2024, a movie that had Willem Dafoe, James Earl Jones, Benjamin Bratt, and Anne Archer backing up Ford could be thought-about an all-star forged. It was simply as loaded in 1994 when Clear and Present Danger got here out. But apart from Dafoe’s heroic flip as John Clark, a lot of the big-name supporting forged members don’t get a lot to do. Jones’ Admiral James Greer is simply there to endure from most cancers and (spoiler alert!) in the end die from it, whereas Archer barely will get any scenes with Ford.
Harris Yulin (Ghostbusters II) and Henry Czerny (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning) are each completely underhanded as James Cutter and Robert Ritter, two of the U.S. officers behind the conflict towards the drug cartel who barely assume twice about betraying their nation’s troopers within the identify of holding the scandal quiet. But neither the characters, nor the actors behind them, received an opportunity to additional discover their motivations
The pacing strikes very slowly in comparison with trendy movies
Times change, and that is true of the best way movies are edited as nicely. But from a contemporary perspective, Clear and Present Danger strikes at glacial tempo in comparison with more moderen political motion thrillers.
At the time, this may occasionally not have been a problem to moviegoers, but it surely’s one thing that’s very noticeable throughout a rewatch. It’s solely two hours and 21 minutes lengthy, but it surely someway feels longer. An overlong drama is unhealthy sufficient, however a slow-moving motion film feels deadly.
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The film removes lots of the novel’s ethical ambiguity
It might be argued that nuance doesn’t play very nicely in motion motion pictures, so Clear and Present Danger the movie doesn’t appear to have the identical ethical ambiguity of the novel. Jack Ryan is much more virtuous within the film than he’s within the e book, and he received’t be a celebration to a cover-up.
In the e book, Ryan reviews what occurred to Congress and permits the president to throw the election as penance for his actions and to guard the individuals who had been concerned with the covert conflict. Even Ryan acknowledges that took honor and dignity within the e book. That’s absent from the movie and make Ryan’s predicament extra simplistic.
Clear and Present Danger goes for the Hollywood ending
In one of many extra inexplicable modifications from e book to movie, Ford’s Jack Ryan really groups up with drug lord Ernesto Escobedo (Miguel Sandoval) to confront their mutual enemy, Félix Cortez (Joaquim de Almeida). This provides the movie one final motion sequence for Ford, though the demise of the principle villain falls to a different character.
The ending of the novel is superior as a result of it not solely avoids the tacked-on motion sequence, but it surely provides Escobedo and Cortez much more poetic fates. That could have lacked the bombastic qualities of Hollywood’s take, however it might have been a greater ending for the movie.
Three a long time later, Clear and Present Danger doesn’t maintain up in addition to among the actor’s different classics like Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Witness. But if you wish to see Harrison Ford doing Harrison Ford issues in his prime, then this film is for you.
Watch Clear and Present Danger on Max.