Jack Ryan 5-Film Collection: Patriot Games - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Jack Ryan 5- Film Collection: Patriot Games

Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Paramount has really been on a roll lately with their big name catalog franchises. Transformers, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, Mission Impossible, Tomb Raider and now the entire Jack Ryan series in one big boxset. This time around I'm going to be doing something different. Instead of reviewing the boxset as a whole, I"ll be reviewing each individual film in the boxset (they're only available IN the boxset, not individually) so that you can compare and contrast the films in a more detailed manner. To to continue on with the backwards trend, we finish up the Harrison Ford Jack Ryan films with the second best film of the box set.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s Harrison Ford was an action god. He’d already saved the galaxy, defeated Nazis, and was just peaking in his career. After Alec Baldwin was shafted to come back (there are supposedly a whole slew of shady things that went on behind the screens, but only in rumors and whispers) Harrison Ford was the natural choice to play the CIA analyst. He could play tough as nails, but also put on a more scholarly air that was more befitting of Tom Clancy’s character. Set years in the future after The Hunt for Red October, the CIA analyst has moved up the ladder and is doing more than just writing books about military leaders. Also, despite the heavy Russian influence of many of Clancy’s books, they chose one deal more with terrorism than world leaders facing off against each other. The result is a film much more action oriented than the movie that started it all, but still a fun political action thriller that was a worthy sequel to 1990s The Hunt for Red October.

Starting out in England, CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Ford) is privy to a terrorist attack against Lord William Holmes (James Fox). Putting his life in harm’s way once more, Ryan is able to stop the attack, shooting one of the terrorists in the process. As celebration of his act of bravery, Ryan is awarded knighthood from the crown, as well as the admiration of his friends and family. The only thing is, Jack Ryan is in for a world of hurt as the terrorist that he killed was the kid brother of the surviving terrorist, a man named Sean Miller (Sean Bean). Miller is an Irish IRA member, and he’s not about to let the death of his little brother go unpunished. As Ryan returns to the state he has gained a powerful new enemy. One who is willing to take his friends and family apart one by one as Miller exacts his revenge for the death of his kid brother.

Patriot Games is a bit of reboot of the series in a sense. It features Jack Ryan in an aging form, as he’s already left the CIA and is more worried about watching his children grow up. With Baldwin out of the picture the young and naive analyst is replaced with a more battle hardened man who has seen things get ugly over the years, fitting in with Harrison Ford’s rougher acting style. His return to the CIA is kind of a “new chapter” of the man’s life, and it’s a much more action packed take on the Clancy character than The Hunt for Red October. Ford adds an intensity and ferociousness to the character, and I for one actually prefer his Jack Ryan over Baldwin’s (even though The Hunt for Red October is a superior movie than any of the sequels).

Tom Clancy wasn’t wildly please with the heavier action oriented take on the subsequent films with Ford (he went so far as to request his name be taken off the title before it was released), but I for one find it to be a great 90s action/thriller. It’s silly, goofy, fun, and filled with non stop action and political intrigued. John McTiernan’s The Hunt of Red October can’t be beaten in the Jack Ryan world, but Patriot Games was a good change of pace and marks itself as the second best film of the series.




Rating:

Rated R for strong sexuality, and for language and violence




4K Video: Video:

Patriot Games makes a very healthy leap forward, marking itself as the best of the original trilogy, and while not as “shiny” as Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, is just as impressive based upon the original film source. The Blu-ray was just as mediocre as The Sum of All Fears and Clear and Present Danger, so the obvious upticks in quality are a night and day difference with this 4K UHD release. The details are just so much better, showing off effortless amounts of textures and fine detailing along skin and faces. Watch Sean Bean’s face as he fires off the Israeli UZI during training. You can see the little droplets on his face, as well as different levels of grime and blending in with the sweat. The prison where he’s kept is grim and dark, but you can still see everything in the shadows. Black levels are deep and inky, with a nice layer of film grain over the top (although it’s not too aggressive, even though it’s pretty heavy at times).


The HDR makes the biggest boosts, but also tweaks things up. Like Clear and Present Danger (and The Hunt for Red October) the Blu-rays were overly ruddy and pushed towards the red end of the spectrum. This release changes that end and pushes the colors towards the gray end, with a slightly desaturated look. This time, the release is not nearly so flat, and the gray not nearly so aggressive, which allows for punchier colors, and some nice earth tones at the IRA/Middle Eastern training camp as well. It’s a cleaner, more natural, and very impressive looking upgrade over the old DVD and the crummy Blu-ray, and the second best looking film in the box set.








Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track that is ported across from the Blu-ray still manages to be one of the best of the original 4 film's tracks. It's aggressive, powerful, and full of activity ranging from the gunshots blasting around, to the heavy thudding of helicopter rotors pulsating overhead. The score from James Horner was a bit of a "love it or hate thing" back in the day, but I still find it to be really well done. The percussion instruments strike with authority and depth, slamming the listener back into their seats when necessary, but also relaxing and letting the track keep a forward heavy approach in some of the quieter moments. The gunfire and training sequences in the middle east give off a really impressive sound stage and the directionality of the track is superb. Bullets bounce around the listening position, and the surrounds are active with all sorts of sonic treats. Soft foot steps on a wooden floor are pin point precise, while the screech of tires coming around a corner can punctuate the softer moments with impressive excitement.





Extras:

• Patriot Games Up Close
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Patriot Games is not AS good as The Hunt for Red October, but it is a very worthy sequel and one of the best in the franchise. Harrison Ford was still king of the roost, and Phillip Noyce (who also directed Clear and Present Danger) has a good eye for making an action packed thriller. This upgrade from 1080p to 4k UHD 2160p is a big boon for the series, as early Paramount offerings on HD-DVD and Blu-ray were always known to be sub par, and the studio has made great strides to remedy the situation in their move to 4K UHD. Once again, I have to highly recommend the disc (and the whole box set), as they have done a great job on the video. My only complaints lie with the fact that the audio hasn’t been remixed. The same extras as the Blu-ray is no wild thing in my opinion, but overall, this is a very nice upgrade for those of us with the crummy Blu-rays.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Anne Archer, Sean Bean
Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Written by: Donald E. Stewart, W. Peter liff, Tom Clancy (Novel)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian DD 5.1, Czech Japanese DD 2.0, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese DD Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 116 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 21st, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Great watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Another great movie in the collection.