Clear And Present Danger--A Review

In one of his best performances onscreen he plays the part of CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel. It was a 1994 film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the book of the same name by Tom Clancy and directed by Phillip Noyce.

President Bennett [Donald Moffat] wants to avenge the death of one of his friends.The murdered man, and his family,were found by the Coast Guard. He finds out that his friend had skimmed over $600 million dollars from the Cali Cartel. The President tells James Cutter[Harris Yulin], his National Security Adviser, that the Colombian drug cartels represent a clear and present danger to the U.S., indirectly giving Cutter unofficial permission to take down the men responsible for his friend's death.

Jack Ryan is appointed Deputy Director of Intelligence when his friend Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) is diagnosed with an aggressive case of pancreatic cancer, which eventually proves fatal. He goes before congress to ask for an increase in funding to support the war on drugs operations going on in Columbia. He gives his word that no U.S. troops would be used in this operation.

But it soon becomes clear that Ryan is kept out of the loop by Cutter who turns to CIA Deputy Director of Operations Robert Ritter [Henery Czerny], who secures a document giving him permission to do what he sees fit to take down the cartel.

Ritter then assembles a black-ops team with the help of John Clark (Willem Dafoe), a secret field operative. John and his team travel to Colombia and begin destroy-ing the various Cartel gangs, their equipment and hidden drug lab facilities.

The plot then thickins from here. The head of the F.B.I. is sent to Columbia and gets killed, along with most of his entourage. Ryan is the only one to escape the ambush.

From the aerial bombing of a villa where all of the Cartel's leaders are supposed to meet to discuss matters, to the point that the back-ops team are betrayed by the people who sent them there,to the final scene where Ryan angrily confronts the President Of The United States, who was indirectly responsible for all the carnage.The movie ends with Ryan testifying about everything that happened to Congress.

This movie seems so realistic with all of denials and back door deals, you might expect to actually see this in the headlines in your morning newspaper. The culmination of the right book,excellent directing and superb acting, made this movie one of the best liked movies of the nineties.