But I still wonder if what would have happened had Baldwin said “Hell, yes” as opposed to “Nah, I’d prefer to star in a play” (seriously, a play?  C’mon Alec, what timeframe did you think you were in, anyway, the Roaring Twenties?  Nobody makes it big the world over by appearing on the stage anymore - no, now you need a reality show in order to do that!)… would reprising his role as the character have been another boost in his favor, or would it have sent him strolling down the Typecast Aisle, coupons in hand, along with Rick Moranis and Chuck Napier?  And as much as I enjoy almost everything Harrison Ford does (*see footnote*), it seems more times than naught that Harrison Ford’s characters wind up playing like… well, Harrison Ford.

It’s 1992 and somehow Jack Ryan has aged about 15 years since the events of Red October have transpired (in 1984)while his daughter has only aged 5 years - his wife has fared the best of all: she only managed to age two years (the novel actually takes place before Red October, but since Harrison Ford is much older than Alec Baldwin, the screenwriters successfully managed to screw the movie up even more).  While in London, England, Ryan sorta-kinda disrupts an attempted kidnapping/assassination of several members of the Royal Family by some IRA separatists.  In the process, he sorta-kinda kills this young lad, who happens to be the kid brother of Sean Miller (played, appropriately enough, by an actor named Sean… Bean), who sorta-kinda has it in for Ryan after that point and vows to kill his family.

Yeah, that’s about how the whole movie plays out, too: sorta-kinda.  For all accounts and purposes, it director Phillip Noyce’s Dead Calm… only with more people… and it’s set on land… except for the ending… which they re-shot… and sucks.  James Earl Jones returns as Admiral Greer (in a vain effort to connect this film to the last one).  Anne Archer takes over a Mrs. Dr. Ryan.  A young Thora Birch plays little Sally Ryan.  Patrick Bergin, James Fox, Richard Harris, Samuel L. Jackson (just two years away from hitting it bit in Pulp Fiction) and Alex Norton co-star.

James Horner’s music borrows heavily (or, recycles) from music cues from Aliens, which in-turn borrows heavily (or, outright steals) from Aram Khachaturian’s “Gayane” Suite (in particular the heavenly Adagio movement).

(*Footnote* - Notable Exceptions: Random Hearts, What Lies Beneath, Presumed Innocent, The Devil’s Own, Sabrina (1995), Firewall, Working Girl, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, and of course, The Star Wars Holiday Special)


Presentation
The transfer here looks good (again, like Red October, it’s 1080p, 2.35:1, blah-blah-blah) but it doesn’t seem to have that “sheen” where it needs it and almost drowns in it’s “sheen” in other spots (read: good, but not great - a little too glossy at times).  The soundtracks include an English TrueHD 5.1, a French Dolby Digital 5.1, and a Spanish DD 5.1 with Subtitles available in the following languages including Portuguese and English (SDH).

Extras
Patriot Games Up Close (25:14) and the Theatrical Trailer (2:31).  Sadly, these are the exact same Bonus Features that were included on the 2003 Special Edition DVD, so we still don’t get to see the Original Ending where Ford and Bean duke it out on the rocks (although you can catch a glimpse of some production footage from that scene in the Featurette).

The Bottom Line
Tom Clancy disassociated himself from the movie after reading the first draft of the script.  I stopped going to see Jack Ryan films in the theater after this one (and I was working in a theater when Clear And Present Danger came out so I could have seen it for free… and I still didn’t do it!).