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Critics Consensus: Patriot Games doesn't win many points for verisimilitude, but some entertaining set pieces -- and Harrison Ford in the central role -- more than compensate for its flaws.
Critic Consensus: Patriot Games doesn't win many points for verisimilitude, but some entertaining set pieces -- and Harrison Ford in the central role -- more than compensate for its flaws.
All Critics (37) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (10) | DVD (13)
Much of Patriot Games is routine: good guys and bad guys running around with heavy artillery. But at its best moments, Noyce and Ford snap the genre back to life.
The movie kills most of the fun by watering down Clancy.
I expected this one to be a little more cerebral and without the Indiana Jones ending.
The film holds too few surprises to sustain our interest. All too often, we're ahead of the game.
Director Phillip Noyce, who made the gripping thriller Dead Calm, has earned his directorial hack license here.
manages the action with verve and efficiency while also giving the film a more nuanced emotional sensibility, emphasizing Ryan as a father who above all wants to protect his family, not save the world
The film is too fancy and not sufficiently harsh.
Patriot Games is a good laugh, and a good look at Harrison Ford, and any connection with political truth, or with the real layout of London, is entirely coincidental.
It flounders from one absurdity to another, with results that are hilarious when they aren't insulting. There is as much political realism in the film as there is in Naked Gun 2 1/2, except that in Patriot Games it matters.
Spy thriller mixes nonstop violence with pro-family message.
It's Ford and Patriot Games that made Jack Ryan a top-notch action hero and not just a capable CIA nerd.
Although it simplifies global conflict to make a swift impression, the intrigue maintains a pop and the inner fires still burn bright. Baldwin is missed, yet Ford finds his place in the franchise quickly and efficiently.
Of all the Tom Clancy adaptations, Patriot Games has got to be one of my personal favorites. The films story, for me has to be the best idea that Clancy had written on paper. The IRA seeks to assassinate a member of the Royal Family, and Jack Ryan stops the assassination attempt and in the midst kills the brother of the leader of the hit squad, Sean Miller. Sean Miller will stop at nothing to kill Jack Ryan and his family, and once he has broken out of police custody, he sets out to do just that. Patriot Games is a a solid, pulse pounding action thriller that doesn't seem too out of style. Sure looking back now, we can see that the political atmosphere has changed drastically, and that the IRA isn't really what it used to be. Despite the fact that times have changed, and the worlds focus is elsewhere, and I say this because when this film was released, the IRA were at the top of their game and still a threat to Britain. Getting back to the film, This is a top notch film that Clancy fans will relish and surely enjoy. Sean Bean's portrayal of the villain Sean Miller is terrifying, and diabolical, and for me, its one of his best performances of his career. Bean always knows how to play a villain well, and Patriot Games proves it. Patriot Games is a solid film that still holds up to this day. This is a film that very thrilling and action packed and remains one of the best adaptations of a Tom Clancy Novel. A good story, good acting and non stop thrills makes this essential viewing for Tom Clancy fans.
Super Reviewer
Harrison Ford's first Jack Ryan movie is a convincing action thriller. While some parts feel a bit simplified, probably even more so when compared to the novel, the film still flows perfectly and has you on the edge of your seat, especially during the really exciting showdown. One might say with a cast of names like this nothing can go wrong but the good direction should get its credits as well. Also: There's just something really satisfying about seeing Harrison Ford all pissed and ready to strike back in bloody revenge.
Having recently seen Salt, by director Phillip Noyce, I became curious to find out what other movies he's made. So I did what I always do when in need of such info: I turned to IMDB. It was then that I stumbled upon this film. A thriller not unfamiliar to me, but one I've (for some reason or another) neglected until now. At any rate, there's a lot to like about the cast in this film. Not only does it star one of my all-time favourite actors, Harrison Ford, but it also includes a superb Sean Bean, and great supporting roles by actors like James Earl Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. That in hand with some riveting drama bits and suspenseful action scenes, makes this into (to use a military metaphor) another medal on Phillip Noyce's uniform. Maybe not a golden one, but shiny nevertheless.
I thought I had seen this. But I hadn't. But now I have. How do I feel about that? Pretty neutral. I still think Alec Baldwin was the best Jack Ryan. I have a hard time thinking of Harrison as anyone other than the president (when he's being part of the American government, that is. He can still be Han or Indy, of course.)
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