(Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm, Heatwave, Patriot Games, The Saint, Sliver)
Producers:
Mace Neufield and Robert Rehme
Screenplay:
Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillian and John Milius (based on the novel by Tom Clancy)
Music:
James Horner
Cast:
Jack Ryan: Harrison Ford
John Clark: Willem Dafoe
Cathy Ryan: Anne Archer
Felix Cortez: Joaquim de Almeida
Admiral Greer: James Earl Jones
Robert Ritter: Henry Czerny
James Cutter: Harris Yulin
President Bennett: Donald Moffat
Ernesto Escobedo: Miguel Sandoval
Sally Ryan: Thora Birch
It's a boy.
That's the answer to the query at the end of the last film, as those of us
who choose to ignore best-selling books and wait for the theatrical release
had to wait two years for.
After one of the President's (Donald Moffat) friends has been murdered
and Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) has become ill, Jack Ryan
(Harrison Ford) is made acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence.
Along with the pay rise comes the extra responsibility and as the Pres' buddy
was a well-known businessman and had links to Colombian drug cartels, Jack
has to go and investigate.
However, he's on a need-to-know basis and the CIA, including Robert Ritter
(Henry Czerny), aren't telling him much, particularly the fact that
expert field operative John Clark (Willem Dafoe) has started the crusade
against the drug lords.
One of the film's key scenes, an ambush in which a convoy of vans containing
Ryan and his men are targeted by rocket launchers, makes our hero more
determined than ever to fight for truth, justice and the good ol' American way.
This government thing goes all the way up to the President and if truth means
exposing the authorities for all their (not so much) worth, then so be it.
It's interesting to note that the "how dare you" exchange between Ryan and
the President was reversed for the trailer, with Ryan made to seem more heroic
in the summary by getting his in last.
Of the Jack Ryan trilogy, the print here is the best of all, with minimal
artifacts and crisp, clear pictures. We can also take for granted the
anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.
The average bitrate is 7.10Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.
English dialogue is again available in Dolby Digital 5.1, which gets many
chances to shine, particularly for the sweeping rear-action of those launched
rocket. The Hungarians and Polish, though, are left with mono.
Extras :
Same as last time, a two-and-a-half minute Theatrical Trailer
and an extra chapter: 23 instead of 22.
Subtitles are available in English (and hard of hearing), Danish, Finnish,
Norwegian and Swedish. The menus are all static and silent.
If you liked
Patriot Games
then you'll like this, but if that's the case, chances are you'll already have
seen it. I think a Jack Ryan boxset would have been a good idea, to a similar
price as Momentum Pictures' forthcoming Rambo Trilogy boxset, priced
at £49.99, saving a tenner on the individual discs.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
