Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Patriot Games Blu-ray Movie Review

Tom Clancy's bestselling novel pitting Jack Ryan against Irish terrorists comes to life with dynamic audio, video and action sequences.

Reviewed by Greg Maltz July 23, 2008

After his stint as Han Solo, Harrison Ford seemed to be carving out a niche for himself as Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst of Tom Clancy's spy novels. Ryan was a logical progression from the skeptical, reckless, self-centered hero of Star Wars. Compared to more physical action heroes of the era, like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ford offered a thinking-man's alternative--a scholarly but impulsive ex-marine working as a naval educator who would sacrifice himself for family, country and justice. Patriot Games features Ryan's return to the service of the CIA, where he worked as an analyst under his mentor, Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones). The Ryan stories feature a healthy combination of action, Bond-like plot and deliberate character development. Paramount is to be commended for producing the Jack Ryan films for Blu-ray disc, featuring 1080p and a Dolby TrueHD audio track.

Harrison Ford transformed himself into Jack Ryan for two adaptations of Tom Clancy's spy novels.

Patriot Games kicks off in England, where Ryan has brought his family from their home in Annapolis, Maryland. After delivering a guest lecture to members of the British military, Ryan meets his wife Cathy (Anne Archer) and daughter Sally (Thora Birch) near Buckingham Palace. There, Ryan finds himself watching a terrorist attack unfold against British minister Lord William Holmes (James Fox). Acting on instinct, Ryan first secures his family and then bodyslams and disarms one terrorist, Sean Miller (Sean Bean). In the gunfire that follows, Ryan takes a bullet near his shoulder. Returning fire, he kills Miller's little brother. The incident makes Ryan a hero in England. He is awarded knighthood and finds new admiration from his friends, most notably Lt. Cmdr. Robby Jackson (Samuel Jackson). But he also has made a tenacious enemy.

Miller's Irish comrades orchestrate his escape during a prison transfer, and he immediately seeks to avenge his brother's death. The stakes are raised when the Irish terrorists allow Miller to target Cathy and Sally. Consumed by vengeance, Miller then disappears. To catch him, Ryan is faced with a challenge so daunting that he must return to the CIA. Greer is pleased to see Jack back in Langley, but not under these stressful circumstances. With Ryan's superior skills as an analyst, Greer orders a unit to hunt the Irish terrorists in a training camp in North Africa. But the real battle hits far closer to home in every way, culminating in an ending that tests all of Ryan's resources and resolve.

Patriot Games Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 1080p presentation is held back a touch in detail and vibrancy, but it appears film-like throughout, with supple, fine grain that is never obtrusive. Rich blacks and other dark colors add to the depth, in which brighter elements seem to burst from the screen. Clothing textures, features, hair and other details are not reference quality, but they are on par with other BD releases of titles from the early '90s, such as Reservoir Dogs. The BD does show some variability from scene to scene.

Watch the sequence outside Buckingham Palace, shot in drab weather. While detail is good, vibrancy is somewhat muted. For that matter, so was the opening scene in the hotel room. But the effect on the action sequence holds back its impact, as if it was shot a bit soft. To be fair, the picture is head and shoulders above the DVD and there is no cause to be too critical of the video quality. The brighter scenes appear more vibrant, with lifelike contrast and depth. Watch the scene on the Naval campus as Ryan notices he's being followed. The ensuing action appears more vivid and lifelike than the more subdued scenes. Overall, the picture appears to have good resolution regardless of whether it is a day scene or night scene.

Patriot Games Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

James Horner's compositions for Patriot Games may be up for debate--most tend to either love the soundtrack or hate it--but there is little doubt that Paramount did a very good job with the audio engineering for the film. The Blu-ray release sounds gorgeous, with a strong soundstage across the front channels, detailed treble, rich midrange and taught bass in all the right places. Horner used traditional orchestration as well as Celtic instrumentation, vocals and even use of heavy synths. Apparently no one survived the '80s unscathed! But one needs only hear the female vocalist Maggie Boyle's traditional Gaelic song in the main title to get a sense of the "liquid midrange" that audiophiles are constantly yammering about. Speaking of which, my most recent upgrade was to sell my B&W HTM-1 center speaker and replace it with the B&W HTM1D center that more closely matches my pair of 802Ds for a seamless front L-C-R. The HTM1D features the same midrange/tweeter housing and diamond dust encrusted tweeter as the L/R speakers. The stiffness of the tweeter is capable of articulating any signal you throw at it more accurately than B&W's old Nautilus tweeter. And Patriot Games has a wide variety of treble content to give a clear sense of the extended highs.

Listen to the attack of the Celtic percussion during the intense build-up of the car-chase sequence. Although the percussion instruments are struck rapidly, like popcorn, each strike is articulated gorgeously with lifelike attack and decay. This treble display hovers above massed strings that image in the midrange and midbass with more definition and detail than Dolby Digital and CD deliver. Or listen to Sally and the other girls chatting after school. The tone and timbre of their delicate voices distinguishes each character. The HTM1D likewise reveals incredible detail in squealing brakes and crashing metal encoded in the Dolby TrueHD track. The bass is not quite as defined but equally prodigious. Listen to the scene when Miller's convoy is attacked during his prison transfer. Boats lob shells onto the road, captured by the audio track as explosions with deep LFE response. At no time do the effects, music and dialog appear to get in the way of the other, helping the mix achieve an open and detailed quality. I should note for multichannel fanatics that the surround channels were quite anemic, but I find mixes heavy up front and light in back to be more realistic if not as immersive.

Patriot Games Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Paramount continues to disappoint in the bonus features department. The only supplementary content included on the Blu-ray is Patriot Games Up Close in standard definition and a high definition theatrical trailer. The 1080p trailer notwithstanding, this is the exact same bonus content featured on the 1999 "Collector's Edition" DVD. Up Close can best be characterized as a documentary covering the making-of the film. It's mostly comprised of interviews with producer Mace Neufield, although other cast and crew make appearances. Neufield has worked on all the Jack Ryan movies and his observations are not terribly insightful. It was refreshing to learn that the cast all got along and no real problems crept up during production--at least according to director Phillip Noyce.

Patriot Games Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Patriot Games is not a perfect film, but the narrative is paced well, mixing spy genre action with family drama and thriller elements--and even sprinkling in some humor here and there. The Jack Ryan character is a lot of fun, played very effectively by Harrison Ford. In fact, he is my favorite Jack Ryan. His only other film as Ryan, Clear and Present Danger, is about a cover-up in the White House after an elite team of soldiers is sent to Columbia to attack the drug cartel. Patriot Games is in a way a more contrived story in which international terrorism can focus on a household and threaten an American family. But the way Clancy set it up is brilliant. And he establishes the terrorists in a way that maintains political correctness both to the Irish and English. It may seem completely unrealistic for a visiting American to get caught up in such a plot, but when I spent a few weeks in London in the 1980s, I missed being blown up at a bandstand and in carbombings outside Buckingham Palace by a matter of days. The carnage was all too real. But back to the the BD. Patriot Games is an important addition to any Blu-ray library for fans of spy thrillers, Harrison Ford or home theater fans looking for worthy audio demo material. The video, too, is well worth the upgrade over DVD.