Patriot Games (1992) - Lacking story fundamentals mar Ford's first Ryan performance

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A crisp and suspense-driven design collects this enticing poster for Phillip Noyce's Patriot Games

CIA agent Jack Ryan intervenes at a London terrorist attack and kills the brother of an IRA terrorist, who later swears revenge.

 

Patriot Games is written by W. Peter Iliff (Varsity Blues (1999)) and Donald E. Stewart (Deathsport (1978)), adapting the same-titled 1987 novel by Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears (1991)), and directed by Phillip Noyce (God Knows Why, But It Works (1976)). It is the 2nd adaptation of a Clancy novel, coming after John McTiernan's successful The Hunt for Red October (1990), which starred Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.

Handsome action here, and Harrison Ford (The Devil's Own (1997)) doing well in the Ryan part taken over from Baldwin, as well as the ideal James Earl Jones (The Big Bang Theory (2014, TV-series)) back as his CIA boss. But despite these qualities, Patriot Games falls through the floor with its unlikely plot about the CIA seriously being threatened by the IRA.

The story is fundamentally unsexy and lacking in credibility, and the premise is light on suspense. Later world famous villain actor Sean Bean's (The Storyteller (1988, TV-series)) participation as a crook here doesn't work against the yawns.

 

Related posts:

 

Jack Ryan franchise: The Hunt for Red October (1990) - A stellar cast shines in the first and best Clancy adaptation

Phillip Noyce: Salt (2010) - Engaged Jolie in Noyce's lacking actioner

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 42-45 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 178 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.09 times its cost)

[Patriot Games was released 5 June (North America) and runs 117 minutes. Clancy was paid 2.5 mil. $ for the rights to Patriot Games and the following novel, Clear and Present Danger. Despite this high sum, Clancy uttered disapproval of the script and other aspects of the film in the time up until its release, at which point a studio head was able to break peace with the influential author. Ford was paid 9 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from November 1991 - February 1992 in Virginia, Maryland, California and in London, UK. The budget ballooned from 28 mil. $ during production, and the ending was reshot to the tune of millions of dollars. Another approximately 20 mil. $ was used to market the film. It opened #1 to a 18.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then another 2 in the top 5 (#3-#5), grossing 83.3 mil. $ (46.8 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Jack Ryan returned in Ford's guise with Noyce back at the helm in Clear and Present Danger (1994). Noyce first returned with Sliver (1993). Ford first returned in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1993, TV-series) and theatrically in The Fugitive (1993). Patriot Games is fresh at 72 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Patriot Games?

The Hunt for Red October (1990) - A stellar cast shines in the first and best Clancy adaptation

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Impressive silver fox Sean Connery painted red and black on this anticipation-building poster for John McTiernan's The Hunt for Red October

The Soviets have built a new submarine propulsion system, which makes their latest invention a silent threat. The technology is used on the mammoth submarine Red October, a vessel with a crew that either wants to defect or who are led by a doomsday-enamored maniac.

 

The Hunt for Red October is written by Larry Ferguson (Highlander (1986)), Donald E. Stewart (Missing (1982)) and David Shaber (The Warriors (1979)), adapting the same-titled 1984 novel by Tom Clancy (Without Remorse (1993)), and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker John McTiernan (Nomads (1986)), whose 4th film it is.

To begin with it is a bit comical to see great Scotsman Sean Connery (You Only Live Twice (1967)) as a Russian captain, but he is terrific for the part, and he keeps us in a constant vice of paranoia, which keeps us guessing; is he really mad? - Or is it just a bluff?

The cast all-around makes this a deluxe Clancy adaptation - as well as the first of them: James Earl Jones (Law & Order (1993, TV-series)) as the CIA boss is perfect; Alec Baldwin (Along Came Polly (2004)) as protagonist Jack Ryan, and fellow talents such as Scott Glenn (Firestorm (1998)), Stellan Skarsgård (Melancholia (2011)), Sven-Ole Thorsen (The Viking Sagas (1995)), Sam Neill (Daybreakers (2009)) and Fred Thompson (Cape Fear (1991)). It is also a treat that this stern, male-dominated spy story is permitted to play out without a studio-mandated female tangent attached for sex value. The underwater scenes, which have early uses of CGI, work. Jan de Bont's (Kapsalon (1972)) cinematography is simple but precise. Basil Poledouris' (It's My Party (1996)) score is solid support. 

McTiernan cements himself as one of the best American filmmakers in the late part of the 20th century here.

 

Related posts:
 
John McTiernan: 1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The 13th Warrior (1999) - McTiernan and Co. sink with oversized Muslim hero adventure 

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) - McTiernan gives the third Die Hard a shot of New York-set adrenaline

Top 10: Best cop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Top 10: The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Die Hard (1988) - McTiernan's action masterpiece 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 200.5 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.68 times its cost)

[The Hunt for Red October was released 2 March (USA) and runs 135 minutes. The US Navy were supportive of the film's creation and provided submarines for shooting, as well as advice on how to portray them positively. Connery was paid 4 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from April 1989-? in England, North Carolina, Alaska, Connecticut, Washington and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 17.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another 2 weekends and then remained in the top 5 for another 7 weekends, grossing 122 mil. $ (60.8 % of the total gross). It was the 6th highest-grossing film in North America of the year. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning for Best Sound Effects Editing. It lost Best Editing and Best Sound to Dances with Wolves. It was also nominated for 3 BAFTAs, among other honors. McTiernan returned with Medicine Man (1992). Connery returned in The Russia House (1990)); Baldwin in Miami Blues (1990). The Hunt for Red October is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hunt for Red October?

Earth (2007, documentary) - Fothergill/Linfield's incredible nature spectacle is one to watch

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+ Best Nature Movie of the Year

 

Highlighting our planet and the three central animal families that Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield's Earth follows, this poster goes for the heart and takes it

 

From the polar bear's incredibly tedious walk for survival near the North Pole to the African Kalahari Desert, our planet's highest mountain peaks, greatest waterfalls and into the wonders of its rainforests, Earth takes us there.

This nature documentary, based on the popular BBC/Discovery documentary TV-series Planet Earth (2006), is technically impressive, made with state-of-the-art digital equipment. It uses only few overt editorial manipulations of its footage (like the changing of the seasons), which makes these stand out as somewhat ostentatious, and they could have been left out in my opinion.

The scene of the leopard's hunt on the savanna reaches mythical heights, whereas the later slow motion elongation of the whale footage only serves a wow-effect.

Still, there are only these minor quibbles to attach to this overall staggeringly beautiful, hypnotizing, simple and utterly human-less film, which leaves it up to its audiences to acquit or accuse humanity for the dire climate changes, it also portrays, (except for a few notes it gives towards the end.) In this subdued way, Earth chooses to stress the mysteries and beauties of nature over indignation at our sins against it.

The film's narration is written by Leslie Megahey (The Advocate (1993)), and the film is directed by Alastair Fothergill (Bears (2014)) and Mark Linfield (Monkey Kingdom (2015)).

 

Related post:

 

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 47 mil. $

Box office: 108.9 mil. $

= Minor flop

[Earth premiered 14 July (Liechtenstein's Vaduz Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes (UK version) and 90 minutes (US version). The budget made Earth the most expensive documentary production ever, until Oceans (2009). Filming lasted from 2004-06. The two versions have different narrators: Patrick Stewart did the 9 minute longer UK version, while James Earl Jones narrated the shorter US version, which also uses a more dramatic score. The film has been called a 'companion' to the TV-series, which it relies heavily on for its footage. Reportedly around 30 % of Earth's footage is previously unseen. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release Obsessed, holdover hit 17 Again and new releases Fighting and The Soloist, to an 8.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 32 mil. $ (29.4 % of the total gross). While the film had no Russian or Chinese release and flopped incredibly in its native UK and in Australia, it made hefty business in other markets: The 2nd and 3rd biggest were Germany with 29.2 mil. $ (26.8 %) and Japan (where it was the most successful documentary in 10 years) with 23.2 mil. $ (21.3 %). It became the 2nd highest-grossing nature documentary of all time, behind March of the Penguins (2005) with 127.4 mil. $. It was nominated for a BAFTA. A celebrated Planet Earth II TV-series was made and released in 2016. A sequel, Earth: One Amazing Day (2017) has been released to a much smaller reception. Fothergill returned with African Cats (2011) and Linfield with Chimpanzee (2012). Earth is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Earth?

Coming to America (1988) - Landis and Murphy's second, amusing but less well-constructed collaboration

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The beautifully painted poster for John Landis' Coming to America

QUICK REVIEW:

An African prince is not satisfied with an arranged marriage at home in his kingdom and instead travels to America to fall in love with a woman who thinks for herself.

The first half of Coming to America is totally gaga in Africa with a high-spirited James Earl Jones (The Lion King (1994), voice) as the king. Eddie Murphy (Trading Places (1983)) lands fresh in the US with his beautiful traveling companion Arsenio Hall (Black Dynamite (2009)). The movie is silly and funny for a while.
But then the plot grows increasingly illogical; plot points get delayed (something has to fill out those excessive 117 minutes...), and the phony romance booms... The last 20 minutes of the film are downright embarrassingly poorly written (by screenwriters David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein (The Nutty Professor (1996)), following a story synopsis by Murphy.)
Coming to America was the second Murphy-starring comedy by master director John Landis (The Blues Brothers (1980)) after the much better Trading Places. They would work together again, despite Landis' complaining that Murphy was a "pig of the world" on the America set, in Beverly Hills Cop III (1994).

Related reviews:

John Landis: The Twilight Zone (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Landis' great, funny, scary wolf
The Blues Brothers (1980) - Try to sit still to this one!

Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy in John Landis' Coming to America

Watch the funny trailer for the film here

Cost: 39 mil. $
Box office: 288.7 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The movie was the 3rd biggest hit at the US box office that year, and Paramount's biggest hit of the year. It was both big in the US (128.1 mil. $/44% of the total gross), where it was released without press screenings (due to negative reactions in a local New York press screening) and internationally (160.6 mil. $/56 %). In 1988, Eddie Murphy was hot!]

What do you think of Coming to America?
What's your favorite Eddie Murphy movie and why?

Conan the Barbarian (1982) - Prehistoric fantasy opus stretched out beyond its maximum

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Mythical, alluring poster for John Milius' Conan the Barbarian

QUICK REVIEW:

The first Conan movie by John Milius (Red Dawn (1984)), who wrote Apocalypse Now (1979), is an excessively long, tiresome affair with an Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)), who at this early point of his acting career still clearly had plenty to learn about his own talent and acting in general.
The story is set in a prehistoric age, where the young Conan sees his village destroyed and his parents slain by some fierce villains, who then enslave him for many years. He gains reputation as a barbaric killer after he gets loose, and then goes on his quest for vengeance.

So many shots in Conan are so protracted that even the most die-hard Arnold-fan will have problems not mentally drifting from it. I frequently totally forgot what the film was about.
It is blown up to epic length (129 minutes) with a grand, fine score by Basil Poledouris (Free Willy (1993)), which doesn't serve the Conan universe well, because the film is basically too ridiculous to bear such length and grandeur.
Line after line is spoken that seems too ludicrous to even have been written. Here's one example which is testament to the low-brow level that Conan floats around in: [ed.: Crom is Conan's sword!]

Conan: Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you! 

One wonders if screenwriter Oliver Stone (Platoon (1986)) wrote Conan (with Milius doing rewrites) in a cocaine snowstorm. And Milius is no great director...
The film does have some impressive scenery and sets, liberal amounts of blood and mayhem, special effects and co-stars James Earl Jones as the evil Thulsa Doom and Max von Sydow as a bitter old king who helps Conan. And two sex scenes with Conan, the first one ending SPOILER with him throwing her into a bonfire!

James Earl Jones as Thulsa Doom in John Milius' Conan the Barbarian

But dang is it (generally) boring. I just couldn't care about the walking lump of meat that is Conan if you tried to force me into it, I think.
In fact, the elaborate DVD behind-the-scenes documentary about Conan the Barbarian was better and way more interesting (and more than an hour shorter!) than the film itself.
The 1984 sequel by Richard Fleischer at least has an irreverence about itself, which the self-serious, solemn 1982 here original totally lacks.
Incredibly enough, Schwarzenegger still wants to do a third Conan, which has been announced with the title, Legend of Conan.

Related reviews:

Conan the Destroyer (1984) - Arnold K.O.'s animals and pushes doors open in early-career fantasy 80's extravaganza
John Milius: Apocalypse Now (1979) Redux version - The horror of war (screenwriter)

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 16 mil. $
Box office: 130 mil. $
= Blockbuster

What do you think of Conan the Barbarian?
If I am missing some central charm about the character, what is it?

Blood Tide/Bloodtide/Demon Island/The Red Tide (1982) - Dubious island monster flick with James Earl Jones

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Scary, disfigured water-woman on the poster for Richard Jefferies' Blood Tide

QUICK REVIEW:

To a little, Greek island arrives a boat with a couple with bopped hair, who are looking for a missing, crazy sister. - But are virgin sacrifices being performed on the island? In any case, women go missing there on a large scale.
The scenes in which the girls are attacked by the sea monster are true horror, and the island also holds an uncomfortable atmosphere; in particular in the grotto scenes, in which a rambling James Earl Jones (Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)) fiddles with whisky and explosives.
The monster, however, is terribly ugly, in a bad sense that is, and the primary title of the film is pointless, (what blood tide?) Also, the young cast members 'act' more in the sense of merely being in the film with their bodies, and the British Blood Tide also doesn't steer clear of boring for considerable lengths of its playtime.
Its director Richard Jefferies has only directed one other film, the TV movie Living Hell (2008), but has written scripts for numerous films like Scarecrows (1988), Man of the House (1995) and Cold Creek Manor (2003).

James Earl Jones in Richard Jefferies' Blood Tide. - Is he really drunk? Really?

Watch a clip from this undistinguished movie here

Budget: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of Blood Tide?
Have you seen other films with James Earl Jones that you think count as low-points in the man's in any case impressive career?