Movie · 1994 · Action, Drama, Thriller · 2h 21m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 4.6/10 (175.4K ratings)
Truth needs a soldier.
Overview
Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.6/10
IMDb: 6.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.34/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Metacritic: 72
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Phillip Noyce
Production
Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, Robert Rehme Productions
Cast
Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Joaquim de Almeida, Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, Donald Moffat, Miguel Sandoval, Raymond Cruz, Anne Archer, Thora Birch, Benjamin Bratt, Dean Jones, Ann Magnuson, James Earl Jones, Hope Lange, Tom Tammi, Greg Germann, Tim Grimm, Belita Moreno, Jorge Luke
Where to watch
fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, History Vault
Curator Review
Verdict
A sturdy 90s political thriller that works as both dad-movie comfort food and a surprisingly sharp look at covert U.S. power, bureaucratic self-interest, and the drug war. It’s not the most elegant Jack Ryan film, but its mix of procedural tension, military hardware, and Harrison Ford’s gruff moral certainty makes it very watchable.
Best for
fans of 90s studio thrillers
viewers who like political conspiracy plots
audiences who enjoy military/spy procedural detail
people looking for a straightforward but intelligent action-drama
fans of Harrison Ford in stern, exasperated mode
Skip if
you want sleek modern pacing
you dislike overtly patriotic or militarized action movies
you prefer character-driven espionage over institutional intrigue
you need action scenes to feel especially realistic
you’re not in the mood for a long, talky thriller with some dated politics
Overview
Clear and Present Danger is one of those big, efficient 90s thrillers that feels built to be rewatched on a lazy afternoon, yet it has more bite than its reputation suggests. The movie understands the appeal of watching a competent professional dig through layers of lies, memos, and half-truths until the real scandal comes into view.
Worth noting
Harrison Ford gives Jack Ryan a weary, stubborn integrity that anchors the whole thing, while the supporting cast helps sell the sense of a system full of people making bad decisions for career reasons. The action is occasionally absurd, but it’s staged with enough conviction to keep the momentum moving.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the film’s cynicism about power: the cartel is dangerous, but the bigger threat is the machinery of government willing to manufacture a war and bury the evidence. That tension between old-school action spectacle and institutional paranoia is exactly why it still plays as more than just a generic thriller.
Top Letterboxd reviews
nickusen · 802 likes
perfectly simulates the feeling of visiting your grandpa and getting to pick a movie from his VHS stack. pure comfort food
Will Menaker (4★) · 482 likes
Patriot Games really suffers by comparison to this much better sequel. They get rid of almost all of the Ryan family dynamics and bring on Milius to punch up the screenplay about the CIA's secret war on a Colombian cartel, yes please. Milius really brings Clancy's fetishism of American military hardware to the fore, especially in the scene where they drop a "cellulose encased laser guided bomb" on a cartel compound. Also the scene where the FBI director, his SUV… more Patriot Games really suffers by comparison to this much better sequel. They get rid of almost all of the Ryan family dynamics and bring on Milius to punch up the screenplay about the CIA's secret war on a Colombian cartel, yes please. Milius really brings Clancy's fetishism of American military hardware to the fore, especially in the scene where they drop a "cellulose encased laser guided bomb" on a cartel compound. Also the scene where the FBI director, his SUV… more
SilentDawn (3.5★) · 316 likes
65
A Sunday afternoon classic. Felt weird watching this not on TNT or AMC, but it's still quite the thrill. Highlights aren't just the traditional action moments, like a crazy convoy ambush, but also the scene where Harrison Ford is attempting to print the receipts before it's all deleted off the hacked computer. Wish there were a couple more of these Phillip Noyce/Tom Clancy cable staples, because they're perfect for a lazy day.
Matt Singer (3.5★) · 280 likes
While some of the action sequences are utterly ludicrous, this is a good deal smarter and far less jingoistic than I remembered or expected. The film’s true villains aren’t the drug kingpins who set the plot in motion; they’re the image-conscious, war-hungry bureaucrats in the Department of Defense who instigate an unauthorized war in Colombia, along with the President of the United States who tacitly authorizes the scheme. If the past few years have taught us nothing else, it’s that… more While some of the action sequences are utterly ludicrous, this is a good deal smarter and far less jingoistic than I remembered or expected. The film’s true villains aren’t the drug kingpins who set the plot in motion; they’re the image-conscious, war-hungry bureaucrats in the Department of Defense who instigate an unauthorized war in Colombia, along with the President of the United States who tacitly authorizes the scheme. If the past few years have taught us nothing else, it’s that… more
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (4.5★) · 249 likes
When it comes to Tom Clancy's big screen adaptations, this one tends to be at the top of the list. And having seen it, I can understand why.
Harrison Ford is gruff yet charming, and the scene with the president towards the end is beyond gratifying. It reflects a lot of the attitude and personality that comes to mind when I think about Jack Ryan. Dafoe is scarcely on screen, yet he leaves an indelible impact. Moffat as the president… more
1993 · Drama, Mystery, Thriller · 2h 34m · R · Curator 4.3/10 (284.1K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
Another 90s thriller about a smart professional discovering the rot beneath a respected institution.
1998 · Action, Drama, Thriller · 2h 12m · R · Curator 4.8/10 (392.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Shares the surveillance-state anxiety and propulsive momentum of a man trying to outmaneuver a powerful apparatus.
2001 · Action, Crime, Thriller · 2h 6m · R · Curator 3.8/10 (179.2K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Another intelligence-focused thriller with a veteran operative, tradecraft, and a strong sense of geopolitical maneuvering.
Topics
political thriller, spy drama, 90s action, bureaucratic intrigue, drug cartel, government cover-up, military hardware, procedural tension, Cold War afterlife, cable-movie comfort