Clear and Present Danger (1994) Paramount/Action-Adventure RT: 140 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, violence, drugs) Director: Phillip Noyce Screenplay: Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillian and John Milius Music: James Horner Cinematography: Donald McAlpine Release date: August 3, 1994 (US) Cast: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de Almeida, Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, Donald Moffat, Miguel Sandoval, Benjamin Bratt, Raymond Cruz, Dean Jones, Thora Birch, Ann Magnuson, Hope Lange, James Earl Jones, Greg Germann, Ellen Geer, Ted Rami, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Rex Linn. Box Office: $122M (US)/$216M (World)
Rating: ****
Harrison Ford reprises the role of Jack Ryan one last time in Clear and Present Danger, the third Tom Clancy best seller adapted for the big screen. Interestingly, it’s more about the back-door dealings of politicians and less about action and shooting. That’s not to say there’s no action, there’s plenty of it actually. It simply focuses more on what’s going on behind the scenes of the action. As I get older (and hopefully wiser), I enjoy this type of film more and more. I’m getting tired of the special effects driven noisefests that pass for movies these days.
In Clear and Present Danger, Ryan takes on a Columbian drug cartel in addition to dishonest American politicians. It opens with the US Coast Guard discovering the bodies of a businessman and his family on board their yacht, presumably murdered by the crew. The businessman was a good friend of President Bennett (Moffat, The Thing) who was laundering money for Columbian drug lord Ernesto Escobedo (Sandoval, Jurassic Park) who ordered the hit in light of him embezzling $650M.
The President wants to seize the money and use it in his war against drugs. He sends Ryan to negotiate with the Colombian government while secretly giving tacit approval to National Security Advisor Cutter (Yulin, Scarface) to set up a covert military action against the cartel. He does this despite acting Deputy Director of Intelligence Ryan promising Congress no such action would be taken to end the drug trade between the two countries.
Ritter (Czerny, Mission: Impossible), the Deputy Director of Ops, goes to Colombia where he pays CIA operative John Clark (Dafoe, Wild at Heart) to round up a team of mercenaries to wage war on the cartel by destroying their operations. Meanwhile, a POed Escobado sends his own intelligence operative Felix Cortez (de Almeida, Desperado) to deal with the problem. Cortez has an inside line on what the FBI is doing. He knows the Americans’ every move. He arranges a hit on the convoy taking Ryan to his meeting with government officials. That’s when the s*** gets real.
Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games) returns to direct Clear and Present Danger and what a job he does. Instead of a straight-up action film, it’s an intelligent political thriller that affirms what many of us think about the inner workings of our government. There’s always some kind of cover-up going on and there’s always a patsy to blame when the wrong-doings of the politicians come to light. Ryan, taking over for his ailing boss/friend Admiral Greer (Jones, Conan the Barbarian), is that patsy. He needs to find a way to clear his name and expose the lying, scheming politicos. It’s like a 70s conspiracy thriller updated to the 90s.
The action scenes are well-executed, especially the convoy attack. Noyce makes you feel like you’re right in the thick of things. There’s also plenty of intrigue as loyalties continually shift from one person to another. Ford, once again, is amazing as Jack Ryan. I can’t think of anybody but him in the role. I thought of him a lot while I watched Ben Affleck take a crack at it in the next Clancy adaptation, 2002’s The Sum of All Fears. That’s another story for another review.
An excellent cast lends ample support to Ford. Moffat is perfect as the oily President afraid to get his own hands dirty in the fight against criminals. His cause is just, his methods are not. Dafoe is great as the black-ops guy distrustful of everybody (especially his bosses) but his own men. He and Ryan ultimately make a good team. Anne Archer (Fatal Attraction) and Thora Birch (Now and Then) aren’t in it as much this time, but they do well with what little screen time they have. Besides, this isn’t personal like the last time out.
Films like Clear and Present Danger remind us intelligent movies for adult audiences still exist. You just have to go back a few decades to find them. It’d be nice if Hollywood still made films like this, but they don’t because they don’t make a profit. Today’s young audiences don’t want to see real action heroes like Ford or Clint Eastwood. They want to see guys and girls in costumes fighting other guys and girls in costumes. It’s sad really. Me, I’d rather watch a Tom Clancy political thriller with all its jargon and high-tech stuff. It makes more sense to me. Of course, I’m closing in on 60 so maybe I’m not the one to ask about the state of modern cinema.
