Time: 117 Minutes
Age Rating: PG
Cast:
Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan
Anne Archer as Cathy Ryan
Patrick Bergin as Kevin O’Donnell
Sean Bean as Sean Miller
Thora Birch as Sally Ryan
James Fox as Lord Holmes
Samuel L. Jackson as Robby Jackson
Polly Walker as Annette
J. E. Freeman as Marty Cantor
David Threlfall as Inspector Robert Highland
James Earl Jones as Admiral Greer
Richard Harris as Paddy O’Neil
Director: Phillip Noyce

Patriot Games is the first of the two Jack Ryan movies starring Harrison Ford, the other being Clear and Present Danger. It was pretty good, but definitely wasn’t on the same level of its follow up.

For a Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan movie, Patriot Game is actually light on political intrigue, it is more of a revenge action thriller. Overall though, it is a typical 90s action movie, with some little moments of silliness. Unfortunately, the narrative wasn’t all that interesting, but at least it was well paced and straightforward enough.

Harrison Ford is good and charismatic in his first outing as Jack Ryan. Sean Bean is also decent enough as the main villain, and the rest of the cast including Anne Archer, Samuel L. Jackson and James Earl Jones are good too.

The direction from Phillip Noyce is good, and the action is well shot. It particularly shines in the third act, mainly with how over the top it gets.

Patriot Games is a solid and functional espionage thriller, but is far from being the best Jack Ryan movie.