Film Snail

Patriot Games
Patriot Games

6.7

Patriot Games

R·1992·117m

Summary

When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets Jack and his family as revenge.

Crew

Director

Phillip Noyce

Novel

Tom Clancy

Screenplay

W. Peter Iliff

Screenplay

Donald E. Stewart

Reviews

John Chard

John Chard

March 15, 2019

7

Good guys are real good, and the bad guys are real bad.

Patriot Games is a more than serviceable thriller, perhaps a bit out of date when viewing it now, but still a very effective good against evil piece.

The source material is so dense and intricate it was always going to be hard to condense that into a 2 hour movie, but I feel the makers manage to keep it fleshy whilst making the respective characters interesting and watchable.

The acting on show is more than adequate, Harrison Ford is great in the role of Jack Ryan, he manages to portray him as a sensitive family man who can step up to the plate when things get ugly, and Anne Archer is solid enough as the wife and mother caught up in the web of nastiness unfolding.

The baddies are led by the brooding Sean Bean who is a little under written, whilst Richard Harris is sadly underused. However, the action set pieces make their mark and thankfully we get a riveting final reel that cements the entertainment deal for time spent with the pic.

It is formulaic to a degree, but that is OK if the combined efforts of all involved are spot on, and thankfully here they are. 7/10

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$45,000,000.00

Revenue:

$178,100,000.00

Keywords

assassin
washington dc, usa
based on novel or book
psychopath
repayment
intelligence
northern ireland
revenge
terrorism
ira (irish republican army)
ireland
british prime minister
jack ryan
ex military
assassination attempt
political thriller
political turmoil
intelligence service
cia analyst
intelligence analyst