PATRIOT GAMES (1992)

Retired from the C.I.A. agent Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is innocently walking down the sidewalk in London with his wife (Anne Archer) and young daughter (Thora Birch) when he gets a front row seat to a terrorist attack on a member of the Royal Family.  Ford ends up killing the main terrorist's little brother, so now the bad guy (Sean Bean) swears revenge.  Next thing you know, Bean has followed Ford to America and attacks his family.  This...means...war!

PATRIOT GAMES is a fun, action-packed international thriller.  You got a terrorist attack in England, murders in Ireland, a convey attacked in England, the British SAS taking on a terrorist camp in Africa, multiple attacks in America. Some people might be a little taken back by Ford's replacement of Alec Baldwin in the role of Jack Ryan, but it didn't bother me in the least.  I actually like Ford better, so it was all good.  I also enjoyed seeing a young Sean Bean as a bad guy.  He was only in "Game of Thrones" as Eddard Stark for a short time, but he captured the sadness so well that he's forever identified in my mind as Eddard.

Quick pace, exciting fights and shoot outs, great acting, Atia from "Rome", engaging story, J. E. Freeman, James Earl Jones, Harrison Ford saying "Tits.", explosions, cars getting fucked up.  PATRIOT GAMES is a satisfying continuation to the cinematic adventures of Jack Ryan.

Part 1 -The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Part 3 - Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Reboot 1 - The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Reboot 2 - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)

"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."

I've never read a Tom Clancy novel (although I've spent thousands of hours playing Tom Clancy video games), but if the novel "The Hunt for Red October" is better than the movie then I might have to because this movie was a blast!

Opening scene, a highly respected Russian submarine commander (Sean Connery) is suppose to take the Soviet Navy's new revolutionary stealth nuclear submarine out on a test run, but instead he's making a break for the U.S.  Has he gone mad?  Is he gonna start WWIII?  Is he trying to defect?  Maybe he's lost or there's a wookalar loose on board the sub.  Nobody knows!  So, now not only is the entire Soviet Navy after him, including submarine captain Stellan Skarsgard, but also the entire American military including CIA analyst Alec Baldwin.  It's all very exciting.  Explosions, sonar, helicopters, jets, torpedoes, unobtrusive computer effects, fast pace that makes the 134-minute runtime absolutely fly by, strong cast, exciting story.

If you're into military thrillers, then you should check it out.  Recommended.

Part 2 - Patriot Games (1992)
Part 3 - Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Reboot 1 - The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Reboot 2 - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)