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

♥♥

 

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 Funhouse (1981) - Hooper's nightmarish carnival creepers

♥♥♥♥

A terrific tag-line, a devious jack-in-a-box, the pedigree and cool title effectively sell Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse on this poster

Our teenage heroine Amy and her three friends attend a traveling carnival, which is the source of some dubious legend, late one night. They act rudely to the weird carnies and decide to sleep over in the horror ride! (Great idea, hu?!)

The Funhouse is written by Lawrence J. Block (Captain America (1990), story)) and directed by Texan master filmmaker Tobe Hooper (Eggshells (1969)).
After a strong title sequence, which builds up anticipation effectively, Hooper slowly unspools his atmospheric horror carpet, (directly following a fun, Psycho-referencing first scene.) The Funhouse is a horror that continually has its hands planted in the genre's iconography and past works.
The unreal and very nightmarish aspects of the carnival continue in the horror ride, creepily coined The Funhouse: It turns out that a gross, murderous family, (not unlike the one from Hooper's masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)), are revealed to be living directly under the ride. At this point the already thin plot gets jumbled, and Amy's little brother's placement in the story is scary, yet the filmmakers still neglect to fully descend him into the horrors.
What the third act of the movie is lacking in innovation, it certainly has in screams! And despite shortcomings, The Funhouse is still a highly creepy acquaintance, not unlike an evil dream.

Related post:

Tobe Hooper: Dance of the Dead (2005) - Hooper's ugly Masters of Horror nonsense

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.8 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain - but likely a big hit
[The Funhouse was released 13 March (USA) and runs 96 minutes. Universal Pictures wanted their own teenage-centered horror after the wild success of Paramount's Friday the 13th (1980). Hooper turned down Steven Spielberg's offer to direct E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), because he was busy with The Funhouse. The two instead collaborated on Hooper's next film, Poltergeist (1982). Shooting took place from March - May 1980 in Florida, including in Miami. Florida was chosen due to its relaxed child labor laws, as the cast was youth-eschewed. Hooper reportedly drank as much as 12 Coca Cola cans a day during filming; he was bitten by a brown recluse spider on-set. 4 days of re-shoots were required, after some footage was lost in a local Teamster conflict. Cooper Huckabee (True Blood (2010-11)), who plays 'teenager' Buzz, was 30 at the time of shooting. Dean R. Koontz wrote a novelization based on the script, which was finished and released before the film. The film opened to a 2.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 7.8 mil. $, - far from the 5.8 mil. $ opening and 39.7 mil. $ final domestic gross of Friday the 13th (1980). However with international grosses, the film likely made 10-13 mil. $; if made on a realistic 2 mil. $ budget, this would still earn the film the rank of big hit, at least. It was unsuccessfully prosecuted as a 'video nasty' in the UK a few years after its release; a suit that is thought perhaps was really intended for Last House on Dead End Street (1977), a much more gruesome and infamous horror movie which had the alternative title The Fun House. Hooper returned with Poltergeist (1982). Elizabeth Berridge (Broke Even (2000)), who plays Amy, returned in Amadeus (1984). The Funhouse is fresh at 67 % with a 5.96/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Funhouse?