CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. Directed by Phillip Noyce; written by Donald Stewart, Steven Zaillian and John Milius; produced by Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme for Paramount. Starring Harrison Ford and Willem Dafoe. Rated PG-13 (violence, language)
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Clear and Present Danger is clearly a big hit. But it's also, quite clearly, not exactly the movie promised by its previews. It's actually much better.
Those previews make it look like just another blow-'em-up action pic. And, to be sure, there are some action sequences in Clear and Present Danger that are just as high-octane as any around. But, there's also a lot of thoughtful (if sometimes overly convoluted) setting-up of the slam-bang stuff. It's like, well, a thinking moviegoer's action picture.
Now, for just that reason, parts of it may seem overly slow to some Schwarzenegger fans. But if they can just be patient, they will eventually see some first-class mayhem.
The movie's story involves political intrigue, international shady deals, and more long-distance cellular phone calls than I've ever seen in a film.
There's some (highly effective) covert action going on in Colombia against the drug cartels. It's a CIA show and Jack Ryan (Ford) is acting deputy intelligence director, but he's in the dark about the operation until the plug is pulled. His nefarious counterpart in Operations (Henry Czerny) says Ryan is too much a "boy scout" to be let in on something extra-legal. And he's right!
But the plug is pulled on the operation in a really underhanded way, leaving the commandos in a "Mission Impossible"-type situation (you know, the authorities will disavow all knowledge, etc., etc.?). So Ryan, ever the white knight, heads for Colombia to try and rescue them.
Ford makes an even better Ryan here than in Patriot Games. He can be so upright and arrow-straight, and still an appealing character. Especially when he's contrasted with the sleazy drug lords and power-crazy bureaucrats that make up most of the cast of Clear and Present Danger. On top of that, he handles the action scenes with a realistic bravado that brings you to the edge of your seat more than once.
The villains here are sleazy, alright, but they're first-class sleazy. Czerny can bring chills to the spine with just a look. And European actor Joaquim de Almeida brings a surprising depth to his character, an intellectual mercenary who was on Castro's payroll before being lured to Colombia by drug money.
August 24, 1994