Film appreciation - Clear and Present Danger (1994), directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Harrison Ford as CIA's Jack Ryan

Clear and Present Danger
Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Miguel Sandoval
Director: Phillip Noyce

Harrison Ford played a pilot in Star Wars and an adventurer in the Indiana Jones series, but he arguably shone the brightest as CIA acting deputy director Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and then Clear and Present Danger, both based on the books by Tom Clancy. Here, his acting is understated: we see him as a bit of an office analyst, gradually morphing into a hero.

Harrison is eminently believable in a plot that begins with his boss, Admiral James Greer, played by James Earl Jones, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer - and Ryan is suddenly propelled into meetings at the Oval Office.

It's fun watching a film 20 years on - clunky mobile phones and a computer system based on DOS, with a plot about a US covert war against drug barons in South America that goes right to the US president, although Ryan only establishes that as the script unfolds.

There are plenty of boys and their toys to keep action junkies happy - missiles launched from fighter jets and a tense, well-filmed scene with Ryan and various government officials riding in three SUVs caught in a Bogota street and all killed, bar Ryan, in carnage orchestrated from the rooftops.

There's some fun dialogue as director Phillip Noyce keeps a tight script. Jones as Greer has a great chemistry with Harrison as he delights in Ryan suddenly finding himself off to Colombia because he tried to impress the president. But towards the end, Ryan is embroiled in a showdown with the president (Donald Moffat), who wants Ryan to keep his mouth shut and play politics.