Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.
Clear and Present Danger is a solid, competent Tom Clancy adaptation that delivers on its political thriller premise. The plot is intricate and engrossing, weaving together covert ops, political cover-ups, and drug cartel intrigue, though it can feel overstuffed and procedurally dense. Harrison Ford anchors the film well as Jack Ryan, and Willem Dafoe is a highlight as Clark, but the ensemble is serviceable rather than exceptional. Cinematography is professional Hollywood craft — well-staged action sequences including the memorable Bogotá ambush — but not visually distinctive. As a sequel in a franchise following Patriot Games, it covers familiar Clancy territory and the espionage-thriller formula offers little novelty. The ending wraps things up competently with Ryan confronting the President, landing on a morally satisfying but somewhat anticlimactic note.