In
the grand scheme of things, one cannot fathom why an actor would walk away
from what had the potential to become a highly successful movie franchise,
as Alec Baldwin did after THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. More Jack Ryan
movies were on the horizon, and had Baldwin continued in the role, he
might have become an upper echelon movie star. When the baton was passed
to another actor for the second Jack Ryan movie, the role went
unsurprisingly, to Harrison Ford, an already established upper echelon
movie star. Ford was certainly an excellent choice for this type of
material, having starred in his share of action movies, but the role of
CIA analyst Jack Ryan allowed Ford to take a more cerebral approach to
portraying an action hero.
With
PATRIOT GAMES ($20) Harrison Ford portrays a more mature version of
the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, who has retired from his duties at the CIA and
has begun teaching at the Annapolis Naval Academy. While on a working
holiday in London with his wife Catherine (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally
(Thora Birch), Ryan thwarts an assassination attempt on Lord Holmes (James
Fox), by an IRA splinter group, that leaves one of the assassins dead.
When captured assassin Sean Miller (Sean Bean) escapes from British
authorities, he sets out to avenge the death of his younger brother by
killing Ryan and his family. What follows is Ryan’s necessary return to
the CIA, which will allow him to deal Miller and his cohorts, who haven’t
given up their assassination plans for Lord Holmes. The cast of PATRIOT
GAMES also features Patrick Bergin, Samuel L. Jackson, Polly Walker,
J.E. Freeman, James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Alex Norton, Hugh Fraser
and David Threlfall.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made PATRIOT GAMES available on DVD in a
great looking 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for
playback on 16:9 displays. This transfer is definitely superior to the
previous un-enhanced Letterboxed DVD issued several years back. The image
is certainly sharper and better defined than the original DVD, with none
of the inconsistencies one finds in rehashed Laserdisc transfers. Of
course, there are a few shots that appear a bit softer than the main body
of the film, but this is attributable to the original production and is
not a flaw in the transfer. Color reproduction is excellent; with hues
appearing nicely saturated and flesh tones maintaining a very natural
quality. There are no signs of chroma noise or smearing during the
presentation. Blacks appear inky, whites are clean and contrast is quite
smooth. Shadow detail is very good and the image usually produces a nice
sense of depth. The dual layer DVD doesn’t betray any overtly noticeable
digital compression artifacts.
PATRIOT
GAMES features 5.1 channel soundtracks in the flavors of both Dolby
Digital and DTS. While the sound is decidedly good, it is a bit dated
sounding, as if it were taken from the pre-matrixed Dolby Surround stems.
As with such remixes, one finds the forward soundstage dominant, with the
rears supplying ambient sounds, musical fill and non-discrete effects.
This describes the current state of the PATRIOT GAMES Dolby Digital
and DTS soundtracks to a tee. Still, the sound mix remains involving with
the directionality being carried through the stereo imaging of the forward
hemisphere and occasional use of front to back pans. Dialogue is always
clean and fully understandable, even with accented versions of English.
Musical fidelity is very good with passages of James Horner’s score
sounding even more oddly reminiscent of his compositions for ALIENS.
The bass channel is solid and deep, which enhances the film’s music as
well as the instances of gunfire and explosions. As for the differences
between Dolby Digital and DTS, they aren’t particularly distinct, but
DTS does come out ever so slightly on top. A French Dolby Surround
soundtrack is also encoded into the DVD, as are English and Spanish
subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a couple supplements. The chief supplement
is Patriot Games Up Close a twenty-five minute program that
looks at the production of the second Jack Ryan movie through a series of
inter-cut interviews featuring director Phillip Noyce, producer Mace
Neufeld, screenwriter Peter Iliff and actors Harrison Ford, James Earl
Jones and Anne Archer. The film’s theatrical trailer is the only other
supplement offered on the DVD.
PATRIOT
GAMES offers solid action movie entertainment, with Harrison Ford
effectively stepping into the shoes of Tom Clancy’s hero Jack Ryan.
Paramount’s DVD looks and sounds great and is definitely worth the
upgrade for anyone with a wide screen display, or those interested in
checking out the supplemental content.
In
the grand scheme of things, one cannot fathom why an actor would walk away
from what had the potential to become a highly successful movie franchise,
as Alec Baldwin did after THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. More Jack Ryan
movies were on the horizon, and had Baldwin continued in the role, he
might have become an upper echelon movie star. When the baton was passed
to another actor for the second Jack Ryan movie, the role went
unsurprisingly, to Harrison Ford, an already established upper echelon
movie star. Ford was certainly an excellent choice for this type of
material, having starred in his share of action movies, but the role of
CIA analyst Jack Ryan allowed Ford to take a more cerebral approach to
portraying an action hero.
With
PATRIOT GAMES ($20) Harrison Ford portrays a more mature version of
the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, who has retired from his duties at the CIA and
has begun teaching at the Annapolis Naval Academy. While on a working
holiday in London with his wife Catherine (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally
(Thora Birch), Ryan thwarts an assassination attempt on Lord Holmes (James
Fox), by an IRA splinter group, that leaves one of the assassins dead.
When captured assassin Sean Miller (Sean Bean) escapes from British
authorities, he sets out to avenge the death of his younger brother by
killing Ryan and his family. What follows is Ryan’s necessary return to
the CIA, which will allow him to deal Miller and his cohorts, who haven’t
given up their assassination plans for Lord Holmes. The cast of PATRIOT
GAMES also features Patrick Bergin, Samuel L. Jackson, Polly Walker,
J.E. Freeman, James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Alex Norton, Hugh Fraser
and David Threlfall.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made PATRIOT GAMES available on DVD in a
great looking 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for
playback on 16:9 displays. This transfer is definitely superior to the
previous un-enhanced Letterboxed DVD issued several years back. The image
is certainly sharper and better defined than the original DVD, with none
of the inconsistencies one finds in rehashed Laserdisc transfers. Of
course, there are a few shots that appear a bit softer than the main body
of the film, but this is attributable to the original production and is
not a flaw in the transfer. Color reproduction is excellent; with hues
appearing nicely saturated and flesh tones maintaining a very natural
quality. There are no signs of chroma noise or smearing during the
presentation. Blacks appear inky, whites are clean and contrast is quite
smooth. Shadow detail is very good and the image usually produces a nice
sense of depth. The dual layer DVD doesn’t betray any overtly noticeable
digital compression artifacts.
PATRIOT
GAMES features 5.1 channel soundtracks in the flavors of both Dolby
Digital and DTS. While the sound is decidedly good, it is a bit dated
sounding, as if it were taken from the pre-matrixed Dolby Surround stems.
As with such remixes, one finds the forward soundstage dominant, with the
rears supplying ambient sounds, musical fill and non-discrete effects.
This describes the current state of the PATRIOT GAMES Dolby Digital
and DTS soundtracks to a tee. Still, the sound mix remains involving with
the directionality being carried through the stereo imaging of the forward
hemisphere and occasional use of front to back pans. Dialogue is always
clean and fully understandable, even with accented versions of English.
Musical fidelity is very good with passages of James Horner’s score
sounding even more oddly reminiscent of his compositions for ALIENS.
The bass channel is solid and deep, which enhances the film’s music as
well as the instances of gunfire and explosions. As for the differences
between Dolby Digital and DTS, they aren’t particularly distinct, but
DTS does come out ever so slightly on top. A French Dolby Surround
soundtrack is also encoded into the DVD, as are English and Spanish
subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a couple supplements. The chief supplement
is Patriot Games Up Close a twenty-five minute program that
looks at the production of the second Jack Ryan movie through a series of
inter-cut interviews featuring director Phillip Noyce, producer Mace
Neufeld, screenwriter Peter Iliff and actors Harrison Ford, James Earl
Jones and Anne Archer. The film’s theatrical trailer is the only other
supplement offered on the DVD.
PATRIOT
GAMES offers solid action movie entertainment, with Harrison Ford
effectively stepping into the shoes of Tom Clancy’s hero Jack Ryan.
Paramount’s DVD looks and sounds great and is definitely worth the
upgrade for anyone with a wide screen display, or those interested in
checking out the supplemental content.
