Patriot Games: An Under The Lens Retro Review

Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse. Spoilers will be included in this review.

Patriot Games is a 1992 action picture starring Harrison Ford, Anna Archer, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, and Sean Bean, based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name. Ford plays former CIA agent Jack Ryan in London with his family, who stops an IRA splinter cell assassination attempt on a member of the Royal family, killing a terrorist and incurring the wrath of the boy’s psychotic brother. Patriot Games was one of a string of successful action pictures that Ford starred in the early to mid-90s, which included The Fugitive, The Devils Own, Air Force One, and Clear and Present Danger (A direct sequel to Patriot Games).

Under The Lens: Practical Effects and Adult Tone

Practical Effects: Patriot Games is an action picture and includes much suspense and many scenes of violence and gunplay. In this age of CGI it was refreshing to see a picture that used 100% practical effects for its action, even the films climactic boat chase in the middle of a storm was filmed practically, seeing as CGI was not invented yet. It added a sense of realism to the events unfolding and also drew the audience into the stunts during the action.

Adult Tone: It’s sad but in today’s blockbuster driven world, there are few if any adult action dramas made anymore (Girl on a Train is one of the few that comes to mind). The 90s saw a spat of R rated adult actioners that were full of suspense and featured adult situations. Patriot Games was one of these pictures, full of blood and violence, it did not hold back, even having a scene of Ford’s wife and daughter being attacked, and their car violently wrecked. However, the violence was never gratuitous and to most young people the picture would feel rather slow. The narrative embraced politics of the time and also showcased real-life CIA work. No explosions or daring kung-fu, no the CIA in Patriot Games finds the bad guys by utilizing satellites and paperwork!

Highlights

Sean Bean does a good job playing a relentless killer who does not really care about ideology, he just loves killing.

The picture was remarkably balanced and sought to show multiple sides to the IRA, with the villains being a splinter cell that is hunted by the IRA as well as the British and CIA.

Ford’s Jack Ryan was a refreshing “Everyman” hero, he is not a fighter, he is an analyst and professor. It was nice seeing a hero who is not afraid of a fight but seeks to use his brain as his primary weapon.

Something to think about

Have you read any of the Tom Clancy novel’s and if so, which would you like to see turned into a motion picture?

Conclusion

Patriot Games is a great action picture worthy of revisiting, the practical effects hold up even 27 years later. It’s a picture that reminds me of a time when adults had their own movie fare, and when action pictures were not required to be dumb or fast-paced to keep interested. I hope that in the near future we will begin to see more pictures like Patriot Games produced and made, its high time the adult actioner returned.