Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 action film about a CIA analyst who is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.
After his breakout role as Han Solo in the Star Wars films, Harrison Ford didn’t stop there in creating come of the most memorable characters in cinema, taking the lead in the critically-acclaimed Indiana Jones franchise, becoming a film hero that shaped and influenced a whole genre of movies, even if he was based on a well-established model from the Golden Age. By the 90s, Ford was continuing to redefine his career, and took over the lead in another promising series, though to a lesser extent, getting cast as Jack Ryan, made famous on film in the 1990 thriller The Hunt For Red October, which starred Alec Baldwin front and center.
Ford’s first foray as Ryan was in the 1992 follow-up Patriot Games, a movie that had the the author (Tom Clancy) of the book it was adapted from disowning the project and slew of mixed to mostly positive reviews. Some were still wrapping their heads around Indiana Jones as a CIA agent. However, two years later, Ford – and director Phillip Noyce – returned for a second try with Clear and Present Danger, and this time hit the bullseye, making it the most successful in the series and the highest rated. Justifiably so.
The story begins with the US Coast Guard running down an American yacht, discovering the owners have been murdered and Colombian henchmen on board. Turns out the murdered man was a very close friend of US President Bennett (Donald Moffat), who, unbeknownst to him, was working for a drug cartel and ran off with six hundred and fifty million dollar of kingpin Ernesto Escobedo’s (Miguel Sandoval, who is oh so very good) money … paying the ultimate price for doing so. Bennett isn’t all that happy about the mess and tells his National Security Advisor James Cutter (Harris Yulin) in an indirect way that the cartels offer a clear and present danger to the United States. This triggers Cutter’s secret initiative to cut off the heads of the many snakes as it were but in so doing, needs a stooge unfamiliar with the plan to get ostensible backing from Congress to increase funding to the area to be covertly used in small but aggressive military campaigns. Enter Jack Ryan, recently promoted Deputy Director for Intelligence and entirely naive about what’s happening under his watch. Sort of.
What follows is both a tense political thriller and an impressive action film that has a whole host of threads that come together in the end. It mixes intrigue, drug-running, jungle warfare, corruption, and even a little romantic betrayal along the way, all with great effect, Noyce spinning plates like it’s nobody’s business. There’s an vehiclor action scene towards the middle that is still the cinematic benchmark for how it’s done and done right. However, it’s Ford who wins the day, settling so nicely into the role of Ryan, it feels like Baldwin was the intruder, even as I say that absolutely loving the hell out of his work in The Hunt For Red October. Ford famously does a lot of his own stunt work, which he did much of here, but it’s his impressive presence in quieter moments that really hammer it home, like when he has a face-to-face with Escobedo. It’s great stuff.
Look too for Willem Dafoe in a crucial part as a guy named John Clark, easily the most beloved character of the Jack Ryan series (books and movies) outside the lead. I really like what Dafoe does with the meaty role. He’s slick, cool, tough, and surprisingly emotive. He makes you wish there was a movie just about him (There is a film called Rainbow Six – also based on Clancy novels and video games – in development with Ryan Reynolds in talks to play Clark).
If you haven’t seen Clear and Present Danger, then it’s time to fix one of the easiest wrongs in your life and make it so. Loaded with great dialogue, fast-paced action, an excellent twisty story, and another feel-so-good-it’s-almost-not-natural performance from Ford, this is perfect popcorn film fodder.