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Rating: I was verbose, so I invite impatient or busy readers to read only the words highlighted in bold, hoping they will suffice to give you an idea of the film.
What do you expect when you're about to watch this film? An ignorant American action film.
Expectations met.
Ingredients: the good CIA guy who doesn't know a damn thing and is astonished despite the weight of his position, the bad CIA guy who does all sorts of things either because he's corrupt or innately evil (here the latter), the bad guy who in the end does have a moral compass that gets in the way and makes the right choice, the real bad guy who's truly evil but incredibly intelligent so you have a bit of respect for him, exotic location.
Preparation: Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is an honest family man with a beautiful wife (Anne Archer, magnificent) and kids, but as a side note, he is also the deputy director of the CIA, freshly appointed.
His boss and mentor is unwell, suffering from cancer. Well, Jack, now it's your turn! It's sad, but it's an opportunity!
Meanwhile, the war on drugs knows no boundaries, and it claims victims, including a friend of the president, who, however, was also a friend of the Colombian drug traffickers, but not really a friend, actually, he was swindling them, money specifically, lots of it, and guess what, they were the ones who killed him.
But who are they? They are Ernesto Escobedo (really? Really. Kudos for the imagination), head of the Colombian cartels, aided by the loyal (?) right-hand Cortez, really bad and even a bit communist it seems, perhaps, anyway, he was working for Castro so imagine how bad he is.
At this point, the president wants revenge, his high-ranking lackeys get to work and tell William Defoe, who is very embedded in the Colombian scene as he wears a panama hat and a Hawaiian shirt, "Hey John, why don't you make Escobedo pay? We'll give you a small army, air support, funds, you go on. Jack is securing the funding!"
Yes, because meanwhile, Jack is in front of some incorruptible committee, a manifest representation of divine justice on earth, to swear that if the funds are allocated to the operation against drugs, it will be good and only good, no military operations of any kind, his word. He gave his word, you understand? Heavy, Jack, now you're involved.
I'm tired; the plot is too complicated for this film, damn Americans. In the end, Jack goes to Colombia, gets shot at with bazookas, fights, seemed like the biggest loser but look at him now.
It's all a constant degeneration, we could be here for days, really guys.
The boss with a villa and family, the ruthless deputy boss who ends up in charge, non-existent Colombian government, South America as the USA's backyard, jungle guerrilla, city guerrilla with jeeps all poor and shabby... and everything is very concentrated, it's all there!
Do you want the mini-subplot of the young sniper who hopes to make it big with the first serious mission of his life that is so serious they told him to do whatever the heck he wants since he's already given his all? It's there!
There’s also the classic '90s action movie scene with the computer that solves problems, who knows how. There's a lot of implausibility.
At some point, they launch a missile at a narcos villa! There were children there, the children!
But there’s an unexpected turn, there are few films of this genre where the president in the end is a bastard.
Harrison Ford always has that ‘are you serious?’ look he usually has, William Defoe is incredibly nervous as often happens, Anne Archer is beautiful and of great style, I didn’t remember this woman.
But incredibly, the film is enjoyable, it flows smoothly and given the plot, it's a miracle and keeps in (almost) constant tension. It's based on a series of novels with protagonist Jack Ryan, from which several films have been made (among which perhaps the most noteworthy is The Hunt for Red October).
Did I go on for too long? Maybe.
Greetings from the Friendly Honest Reviews editorial team, formerly Brief but Untainted Reviews.
P.s. Notable is the subtitle (in the Italian version, I assume): the truth needs a defender.
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