Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

gavin6942 CIA Analyst Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.James Berardinelli remarked, "Clear and Present Danger is all plot and no characters. The people running around on screen have about as much depth as the sheen of sweat on Harrison Ford's forehead. Jack Ryan is the most disappointing of all. He's disgustingly virtuous: a flawless fighter for good and justice, a Superman without the cape. I spent half the movie wondering if this guy was ever going to show anything to mark him as vaguely human." That just seems too harsh, and for no good reason. This is an action film, after all. Sure, we do not get the depth we might like from Jack Ryan, but we have already developed him in two prior films. This is action, a spy thriller. We need twists, turns, gunfire and explosions! (And we get them, too.)

Mr-Fusion "Clear and Present Danger", while grander and more daring (with its secret war premise) than its predecessor oddly comes off as just an adequate sequel. The ingredients were all here, it was just undercooked. Casting's just as solid as it was in "Patriot Games" on top of Harrison Ford and James Earl Jones, now we have Harris Yulin, Henry Czerny, Willem Dafoe and Joaquim de Almeida (always a badass). But the film's real excitement doesn't heat up until the third act, when Ford and Dafoe band together to clean up the mess. And I'd argue that Dafoe or even Yulin are the more interesting characters in the grand scheme of things (even poor Jones' death lacks impact, as he never had time to develop character). And the bad news is that, by the time we get to the good parts, it kinda felt like a chore getting there. 6/10Just how "Hollywood" or outlandish did the premise for "Clear and Present Danger" seem in the mid-'90s? Seems these days, it'd be a piece of cake to get an illegal war going. Also, Ford's epic staredown with the Prez is a crowd-pleaser.

johnnyboyz Where does one go after having taken on, and successfully parried, the threat of that of both Communism and Terrorism? Why, to wage war on Narcotics of course. At least, that is how the good folks charged with bringing to life the adventures of a C.I.A. agent named Jack Ryan see it, as too does the series original author Tom Clancy, whose source material I read was actually published on the brink of the Cold War's termination. With the Irish and the Soviets vanquished, that of Colombia's cocaine barons are next up on the chopping block for the world's most powerful intelligence agency. There is an eerie procession to things in that regard that mirrors today, an attitude of bountifully hopping from ideology to ideology; from nationality to nationality usurping the tyrants and conquering the odds– not so far away from modern foreign policy: the action starts when things kick off that we like neither the looks or sounds of it.Clear and Present Danger is probably the most cryptic of the first three Ryan adaptations – I imagine its title is meant somewhat ironically, as there are times when things are anything but clear and the narrative can actually be quite overwhelming. Thankfully, this is not a case of the same stuff being regurgitated as Ryan charges about; does his thing and works everything out in the end. This is the sort of 'action' film whereby romping scores of circumstance and pomp put to sets heavy in the decour of American governmental iconography, as two men bicker and grimace intently over a situation, is discernible as the 'spectacle'. Things have moved on internally, also. Where in "The Hunt for Red October" Ryan was more of a middle man caught in a cross-fire who was charged with investigating and, ultimately, defusing a situation, his role changed dramatically in "Patriot Games", where he found himself an agent at the heart of a field operation. In Phillip Noyce's Clear and Present Danger, he has effectively been promoted to that of chief of operations following some health issues with James Earl Jones' evergreen "M" figure.The film begins where the last one culminated: at sea. An American Navy vessel flags down a luxury yacht which, to their horror, has been invaded by rouge South American Cartel members and has had its rightful owners executed. Where things suddenly become relevant is when this innocent party of murder victims are revealed to have been close friends to the American president, something which launches an investigation where previously these tyrants were getting away with the horrors associated with trafficking; smuggling and murder anyway. The leader of these renegades is a certain Ernesto Escobedo (Sandoval), who's a poor excuse for a Robert Davi villain from a then-not-too-recent Bond film about similar themes. Escobedo is rich; has a huge house; a loving family and enjoys baseball, but from within a certain Cuban aide by the name of Cortez (de Almeida) has his own ideas on Escobedo's empire.The film launches itself into too very distinct cuts of raw material, with on the one hand Ryan's task of leading the Cartel investigation dominating with a very blue, very cold Washington atmosphere as the snow and chilly conditions settle in just as equally cold levels of animosity are met with practically everything Ryan does via his peers. On the other, an elite team of SEAL commandos land in the warmer, greener and brighter South American jungles. The team is mostly made up of insignificant extras, although one such trooper of a sniper class gets his own introduction et al. early on; thus, it is of little surprise that he's the only one left upon which to focus when the mission gets messy later on. One item, of which there can be little doubt, is Harrison Ford's worthiness in the role. There is a moment early on when he walks into his superior's office; there is a smirk, some small talk and a pile of papers outlining the latest situation. Straight away, we're at home with him in the role and he brings a measured assuredness to the part.The film plays out with that invisible confidence films as cryptic as these often have, that nonchalant swagger as it dives into yet another scene drenched in conflict and suspicion; only assuming that you're keeping up but delivering the blows for you even if you haven't quite. It certainly reminds us of how good-a job the team made of The Hunt for Red October, which was equally involving in this regard although always had the benefit of things zeroing in on that lone submarine so things were never going to be able to go too far astray in the first place. To another extent, it highlights just how limp in comparison to "Hunt" Patriot Games was; a revenge film which is made to look fairly bog-standard and unspectacular in comparison in spite of its traversing of the globe and its taking of its characters to some pretty dire emotional places. Perhaps that was the point; Noyce has essentially overcompensated in that regard, lumping onto us more of what we thought we got in "Hunt" that we didn't get any of in "Games" – something that was Noyce's fault in the first place. As a result, I think it finds a comfortable spot in-between the two.

charlessmith702210 Well, Harrison Ford (who plays character John Ryan) was a pretty good actor and was in a good spot to be in as Acting Director of Intelligence, this Washington job for him was going to be at a major challenge.It starts off early in the movie when Panamian boaters were smuggling a boat towards probably Columbia when the Coast Guard stopped them and forced them to a search.Then, the President of the United States (played by Donald Moffat) is informed about this and blames the Cali Cartel in Colombia for a growing threat of widespread drug-related violence that could spread to the United States, in his briefing.Then, even though there are verbal warnings about not allowing a guerrilla war involving any of the U.S. military to curb the threat of the Cail Cartel, the wheels of this secret small-scale war start to move in toward such an action. One sniper who is good is picked to join with a U.S. paramilitary army to go on what was supposed to be a secret mission to take some of the teeth out of the Colombia's Cali cartel. Then, someone from the outside goes on...the order is confirmed by Jim Greer (played by James Earl Jones), who has to stay on the outside, fighting a terminal stage of pancreatic cancer.The first part of the guerrilla war shows the paramilitary band being parachuted into Colombian territory, and then taking out a supply plane by explosives, and then, going deeper into the Columbian jungle to take out one of the Cali cartel's drug factories also by explosives. No casualties.But Miguel Sandoval (played by Ernesto Escobedo), a Cali leader, swears revenge for this. After a security convoy with John Ryan inside goes into the heart of Bogota to try to meet up with Ernesto, the convoy is greeted by Cali insurgents who fire gunshots and rocket propelled grenades at the convoy. They take out 2 convoy cars, and when American security personnel in the surviving convoy cars fire back, they do kill about 10 Cali insurgents but most of them are killed by the insurgents, and John Ryan, fortunately, survives the guerrilla attack.When John Ryan comes back to the states, a secret order is placed on the American guerrilla soldiers--to use a cellulose-encased laser guided bomb on one of the mansions who have ties to Escobedo. With spectacular special effects, the bomb does its work demolishing the house, but it was not a surgical strike--scores of people were killed even though the target was a yellow jeep parked in front of the mansion.And you think the movie ends just like that...but then, focus lies on Greer finally succumbing to death by cancer, and you see the funeral scene where he is given full military honors, and about the same time this was happening---the American guerrillas do abort a mission to take out 200 Colombian mercenaries and about to get out, they were still attacked by surprise by them. One dies, several of them are captured as POWs, and the sniper who was supposed to take the enemy out could not shoot any of them, and decides to hide in the bush.John Ryan realizes too late about the surprise attack, and decides to take a big risk to get them out. He goes overseas into the Colombian jungle himself, with help of a Colombian insider, and was able to find the lone sniper almost exactly where the surprise attack happened, and the sniper blames Ryan for causing the paramilitary fiasco, and quickly says to the sniper--"It's my fault!" Then, more wheels are turning as the mission goes into trying to find the POWs, but John Ryan faces several hurdles in trying to rescue them. He has to get through the dangerous Felix Cortez, which he does, with the help of Ernesto Escobedo. Then Ernesto was going to kill off John but was saved by the sniper. Then blaming Ryan for the killing of Ernesto, Felix orders the surviving armed bodyguards to search and kill John, but John and the insider, along with the sniper, was able to free the several prisoners (which were located at the Lindo Coffee Factory), and go up to the roof where an awaiting helicopter was going to move them to safety. All three make it up there even though Felix Cortez and his armed bodyguards were targeting them for death as they ran to the chopper, but the sniper and the insider was able to kill some of the armed gang members off. The sniper was even able to kill the most ruthless Cortez just before the helicopter moved away from danger.Then, back at home, John laments the botched paramilitary mission to the President at the Oval Office and is about to angrily rant at him for not knowing about the scores of American dead for a war that most people should not need to know. Then, with his rant frustrated and not allowed by the President, he decides to testify towards the Senate Oversight Committee about that "lost" paramilitary war to get back some redemption that he can earn--even though he cannot get all of it.