Rating 12
Length 2hr 4
Release 16.8.2002
Director Phil Alden Robinson
About Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst needs to stop a terrorist group from planting a nuclear weapon at a football match in Baltimore, before they cause damage.
The Good
- Not normally one to say it, but Ben Affleck did a good job headlining the film as Jack Ryan. The smug grin did come out to play at times, but overall, he did well as an analyst out of his depth.
- Morgan Freeman was as delightful as ever playing the mentor to Affleck’s Ryan.
- Its a decent plot with a good amount of action. Certainly, much better than the two Ford offerings.
The Bad
- Liev Scriber was wasted. Scenes with him and Affleck together were brilliant and I was left wanting more of Scriber’s Clark.
- I love James Cromwell, don’t get me wrong, but I felt his switch from diplomatic President to “blow them all to hell” a little off the mark. I know the attack was meant to be a turning point, but he didn’t seem to shift till much later. Ignoring Ryan and ordering people to stop him also seemed off seeing as he was giving information from his mission that Cromwell sent him on.
The Ugly
- I sound like my dad with this, but there were a lot of similar looking faces all at the same place. It made it difficult to keep track of the whose and the whats.
- It was over 2 hrs and I felt it. All of it. For a film that has many locations and fast paced action, it didn’t half limp along at times.
Final Thoughts
Flawed and patchy, but the best in the franchise so far.
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