The second Tom Clancy novel made into a film ('The Hunt For Red October' being the first), 'Patriot Games' opts for a somewhat smaller scale. There's no chance World War III will result from anyone's actions here, but the CIA finds enough bad business coming from the Irish Republican Army to keep itself and those amazing spy satellites it employs busy. Harrison Ford is now Clancy's reliable hero, Jack Ryan, and Ford is a very good fit. In best Clancy fashion, Ryan is a very reluctant hero as well. He hates getting involved in other peoples' affairs and being forced to settle them, just as he hates being forced to kick ass, but what's an ex-Marine CIA agent to do? The villains this time are an ultraviolent faction of the IRA; Ryan gets on their bad side when he busts up an attempt by them to kill the British Home Secretary and his family. The rest of the movie is essentially a tit-for-tat series of confrontations between Ryan/CIA and these IRA murderers. The best scenes in 'Patriot Games' are the action ones, as well as the parts showing the CIA's supersecret and supersophisticated technology at work. Less successful are the scenes having to do with Ryan's home life, and his wife and daughter. There is an upper-class, peachy-keen smugness to them, exemplified by Anne Archer (Cathy Ryan) and her "boy, this CIA stuff is a pain in the ass" attitude. This type of material is not Clancy's strong suit (or the screenwriter's, apparently) and it shows. The trio of Irish baddies are all portrayed convincingly; Patrick Bergin, Polly Walker, and particularly Sean Bean in a menacing and venomous performance. 'Patriot Games' succeeds mainly because of Harrison Ford's tough, likable, and sometimes vulnerable presence. Several key plot points do not bear close scrutiny; it strikes one as unlikely the IRA and the CIA would take on one another over what is essentially a personal vendetta. But don't think too hard or too much and you'll find 'Patriot Games' a reasonably exciting thriller.
Review of Patriot Games
