DVD 141 min. IMDB 6.7

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#63

Thriller

Harrison Ford	Jack Ryan
Willem Dafoe	John Clark
Anne Archer	Dr. Cathy Muller Ryan
Joaquim de Almeida	Col. Felix Cortez/Roberto Alonzo Landa
Henry Czerny	CIA Deputy Director Robert Ritter
Harris Yulin	National Security Advisor James Cutter
Donald Moffat	President Bennett
Miguel Sandoval	Ernesto Escobeda
Benjamin Bratt	Captain Ramirez
Raymond Cruz	Domingo 'Ding' Chavez

Regisseur	Phillip Noyce
Producent	Mace Neufeld; Robert Rehme
Schrijver	Tom Clancy; Donald Stewart

Based upon the Tom Clancy novel of the same name, Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst, is thrust right in the middle of a power struggle within the Colombian drug cartel after one of the President's "life long" friends is murdered, apparently in retaliation for stealing money as part of a money laundering scheme for the cartel. Jack is then appointed acting Deputy Director of Intelligence, CIA, upon the terminal illness of Admiral James Greer, former DDI, and quickly gets in over his head due to his political naivete. The situation rapidly deteriorates when some of the presidents men convince the President to conduct covert actions against the cartel, in direct violation of congress. Felix Cortez, the security chief of Ernesto Escobeda, the "victim" of the missing money, is one of the cartel boss's. Cortez tries to play both sides, appearing to inform Escobeda about the CIA's involvement in the covert operations against him, while trying to orchestrate a coup to take over the cartel, with Cortez as it's sole boss. James Cutter, the President's National Security Advisor, makes his own deal with Cortez, with the Presidents knowledge, and halts communications to the covert troops still in Columbia, through the Deputy Director of Operations, CIA, Robert Ritter. Ryan ends up going to Columbia to rescue the covet ops troops with the help of field agent John Clark, but not before some fence mending between the two, being that Ritter blamed Ryan for the comm outage, with Clark's men subsequently being captured by Cortez's mercenaries.

Review:
Phillip Noyce directs the third entry in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series, a reasonably entertaining techno-thriller for those capable of untangling the plot. Harrison Ford once again stars as the CIA analyst, who here is both elevated to director of intelligence and forced to turn operative when he uncovers a questionable presidential directive regarding a Colombian drug lord. Clancy's right-wing fantasy world has been given a slight twist to the left here at Ford's behest, and one guesses that liberal writer Steve Zaillian and Genghis Khan-worshipper John Milius worked separately. Presumably based on some of William Casey's more lunatic schemes while head of the CIA, the film is a festival of double-crosses and backstabbing in the corridors of power, and throbbing action scenes in the Colombian jungle as the superhuman protagonist tries to save the surviving troops from a blown clandestine operation. Noyce keeps things moving at a steady clip, and does a fine job with the complex action sequences, but there are few surprises here beside the script's criticism of unauthorized covert operations. Despite the cardboard nature of the characters, the distinguished cast, which includes James Earl Jones, Willem Dafoe, Harris Yulin, Donald Moffat, and Henry Czerny, adds to the film's quality. -- Michael Costello