
Former CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is in England with his family on vacation when he suddenly witnesses an explosion outside Buckingham Palace. It is revealed that some people are trying to abduct a member of the Royal Family, but Jack intervenes, killing one of them and capturing the other and stops the plan in its tracks. Afterward, he learns that they're Irish revolutionaries, and the two men are brothers. During his court hearing, the one that's still alive vows to get back a... (Full plot summary below)
Enjoy FREE movies and series with your Prime (USA) subscription or when you start a 30-day free trial!
Links compiled using automated software. Availability of offers subject to change / might be region specific / out of date.
Former CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is in England with his family on vacation when he suddenly witnesses an explosion outside Buckingham Palace. It is revealed that some people are trying to abduct a member of the Royal Family, but Jack intervenes, killing one of them and capturing the other and stops the plan in its tracks. Afterward, he learns that they're Irish revolutionaries, and the two men are brothers. During his court hearing, the one that's still alive vows to get back at Jack but is sentenced, and that seems to be the end of it. However, while the man is being transported, he is broken out. Jack learns of this but doesn't think there's anything to worry about, but when he is at the Naval Academy, someone tries to kill him. He learns that they are also going after his family, and so he rushes to find them: safe but having also been the victims of a failed assassination. That's when Jack decides to rejoin the CIA, and they try to find the man before he makes another attempt.
Leave your thoughts about Patriot Games.
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenHarrison Ford - that most decent of decent men - helps to carry the new film on his broad shoulders. With his blunt, Everyman features and sympathetically furrowed brow, he comes off as such a solid, good guy that it's impossible not to care about his upstanding character. |
| The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe fierce-looking Sean Bean is outstandingly good as Ryan's main antagonist, and Patrick Bergin brings the right air of calculation to the terrorist mastermind he plays. Several of the film's main sequences, like an encounter between Mr. Bean's Sean Miller and David Threlfall as the police inspector who has been his captor, derive their horror from the looks of pure loathing that these terrorists bestow upon their prey. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleGiven the creative recession in the movies, you could do worse than sit through Patriot Games. If this would-be blockbuster slavishly follows summer movie guidelines, it does so well -- or adequately. Neither poisonous nor great, it never loses sight of its mall-movie mandate, to defend American hearth and home against invincible boy-toy bogymen. |
| Groucho ReviewsPeter CanaveseFord gives one of his most commanding performances outside of a Lucas production, establishing an action formula Ford would repeat...[Blu-Ray] |
| EmpireAngie ErrigoApart from the odd titter, this is a sound formula suspense movie with spiffy set piece thrills, directed with assurance by Dead Calm's Philip Noyce and attractively played by the plausibly anxious principals. |
| Q Network Film DeskJames Kendrickmanages the action with verve and efficiency while also giving the film a more nuanced emotional sensibility, emphasizing Ryan as a father who above all wants to protect his family, not save the world |
| Deseret News (Salt Lake City)Chris HicksAn enjoyable, tense and sometimes stylish action film, but lacks the depth of characterization and technical proficiency that made Hunt a superior work. |
| Antagony & EcstasyTim BraytonIt's Ford and Patriot Games that made Jack Ryan a top-notch action hero and not just a capable CIA nerd. |
| BrianOrndorf.comBrian OrndorfAlthough it simplifies global conflict to make a swift impression, the intrigue maintains a pop and the inner fires still burn bright. Baldwin is missed, yet Ford finds his place in the franchise quickly and efficiently. |
| Austin ChronicleSteve DavisThe most interesting aspect of Patriot Games, however, is the casting of Ford as Ryan, given that Alec Baldwin originated the character in the preceding film. In contrast to Baldwin's rather colorless CIA analyst ill-suited for work as an agent, Ford informs his character with believable world-weariness which subsequently transforms into rage at the prospect of harm to his family. In many ways, Ford grounds Patriot Games in a degree of emotion that distinguishes it from most run-of-the-mill action thrillers. |