Patriot Games (film)

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Patriot Games
Patriot Games Promotional Poster
Directed by	Phillip Noyce
Produced by	Mace Neufeld Robert Rehme
Written by	Tom Clancy (novel) W. Peter Iliff Donald Stewart
Starring	Harrison Ford Anne Archer Patrick Bergin Sean Bean Thora Birch James Fox and James Earl Jones
Music by	James Horner
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 5, 1992 (U.S. release)
Running time	117 min
Language	English
Budget	$45,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Patriot Games is a film based on the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. It was released on June 5, 1992 and directed by Phillip Noyce. In the movie, Jack Ryan was played by Harrison Ford and Jack's doctor-wife, Cathy Muller Ryan, by Anne Archer.

One major change from the novel is the victim of the terrorist attack in London. This was changed from the Prince of Wales to the fictional "Lord Holmes", a cousin of the monarch and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

One facet of the film that drew a lot of attention at the time of its release was the inclusion of breathtaking real-time infrared reconnaissance satellite video of SAS special forces troops raiding terrorist training camps. Such satellites did not have the capability at the time, but in an example of Hollywood presenting new technological ideas, this capability is rumored to have been included in newer satellites. Also interestingly, the terrorists use synchronized digital watches to know at what times they may appear in the open of their camps, lest a satellite see them.

Criticism of the film in retrospect has identified many weak spots in the plot, and in some ways it is the weakest of the Jack Ryan films in terms of coherency at critical points - for instance, the motivations of Sean Miller for attacking the Royal party are never explained, and the 'at a distance' that Sir Jack is kept from the Throne is also puzzling.^{[citation needed]} In fact, it is utterly unthinkable that a close relative of the Royal Family could serve in a British Cabinet, since this would be seen as compromising the political neutrality of the Crown. This would apply particularly to a sensitive Cabinet position such as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; direct identification of the Royal Family with controversial security policies could be very politically damaging. Other political criticisms of the film (from different sources) include the following: (1) The terrorists are presented as members of a Marxist splinter group (possibly modelled on the Irish National Liberation Army) rather than the Provisional IRA. Some critics hostile to the IRA claim that this represents an attempt to apease potential IRA sympathisers among the audience by presenting the IRA as a legitimate nationalist organisation distinct from unacceptable Marxist revolutionaries. (Against this, it can be argued that the film's portrayal of the IRA contains uncomplimentary elements; IRA members are seen trying to kill a rival by luring him to phony peace talks and equivocating so that they can pretend they have not really collaborated with the authorities when this is clearly the case: a senior IRA member is also portrayed as a sanctimonious hypocrite who hides his wedding ring before picking up a woman in a bar.)

(2) Critics sympathetic to physical-force Irish Republicanism have complained that
the portrayal of the terrorists - the Sean Bean character in particular - implies
that Irish Republicans are mentally unstable psychopaths driven exclusively by
bloodlust and vengeance, rather than seeking political objectives which can be
outlined and rationally defended.  Such critics have themselves been criticised
on the grounds that this complaint tries to pre-emptively discredit criticisms
of Republican terrorism by presenting all such objections as anti-Irish.

(3) At one point Ryan tells the IRA character played by Richard Harris that if the IRA does not help him to track down the splinter group who are threatening him and his family, he will see to it that IRA gunrunning routes from America are sealed off and the IRA will be reduced to fighting the British with stones. This could be taken as implying that the American authorities could prevent IRA gunrunning if they chose but allow it to continue for unspecified reasons of their own. (It is clear from the overall thrust of the film that no such interpretation of US official attitudes towards the IRA is intended.) This movie offered a snapshot of the Western European political climates and burning issues in the early 1990s after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[edit] Cast

Harrison Ford - Jack Ryan
Anne Archer - Dr. Caroline "Cathy" Ryan
Patrick Bergin - Kevin O'Donnell
Sean Bean - Sean Miller
Thora Birch - Sally Ryan
James Fox - Lord Holmes
Samuel L. Jackson - Lt. Cmdr. Robby Jackson
Polly Walker - Annette
J. E. Freeman - Marty Cantor
James Earl Jones - Adm. James Greer
Richard Harris - Paddy O'Neil
Alex Norton - Dennis Cooley
Hugh Fraser - Geoffrey Watkins
David Threlfall - Insp. Highland
Alun Armstrong - Owens

[edit] Trivia

Three people in this film have appeared in Star Wars movies. Harrison Ford played Han Solo in Episodes 4-6; Samuel L. Jackson played Mace Windu in Episodes 1-3 and James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader in Episodes 3-6.

Sean Bean has a scar over his eye given to him by Harrison Ford while shooting his death scene. Ford accidentally hit him with a boat hook. In Sean Bean's Sharpe series, this was emphasized with makeup to add credibility to his character.

The skyscrapers shown in Annapolis are fictitious. During the highway chase, Jack tells Cathy to meet him at the state police barracks on Houston Street. There is no such street in Annapolis or its suburbs.