Patriot Games (1992) [LV32530-WSRM]The Movie:
After theater audiences were introduced to Jack Ryan with The Hunt for Red October, a tense thriller driven by the now practically ancient threat of the cold war with Russia, Paramount opted to film Patriot Games for the screen next, swapping out Alec Baldwin for Harrison Ford and a renegade nuclear sub and its crew for Sean Bean and a crew of Irish patriots. It may not sound nearly as tense, or exciting, but Patriot Games is a well paced, satisfying action film of the 90s, and will leave wanting little more from it than what it has presented before you.
Patriot Games tells the story of Jack Ryan's fear and anger driven hunt for Sean Bean's character Sean Miller in order to protect his family, after Jack kills his younger brother in order to save a British royal. Miller swears to hunt Ryan down, and uses everything in his arsenal to kill Jack and his family in order to find closure for what Jack did to his.
Without giving away much of the entertaining narrative, Patriot Games is very much a visual spectacle driven movie. There's a scene for every action junkie - a car chase scene, a boat chase scene, a dark, claustrophobic shoot out, and plenty of reckless violence from both sides of the battle. But it never feels excessive or overdone. The film has a very tight feel to it, and always seems plausible and grounded in the confines of reality. It isn't perfect, but it gets the job done without any issue.
I would like to note though, that it does sort of feel like Jack and Sean are two parts of the same character. Jack's character is charged with anger and paranoia after his family's safety is compromised, and Sean is driven by the desire for vengeance after his family is torn apart. They both go to extreme methods to hunt each other down, and it occasionally feels like a game of cat and cat. Not a bad thing, just an interesting premise that you don't see too often in film.
Video:
Presented in a 2.35:1 letterboxed framed, and THX certified, Patriot Games is adequate in its remastered form. I own both the THX and non THX mastered releases of the film, and they're generally on the same level in terms of detail and noise. Colors are well reproduced, and nothing seems to get lost in the whir of the movie's action, except for the the blackout sequence towards the end of the film. Everything seems to become really soft and hard to find under the dark tones and heavy signal noise. So, like the film, it isn't perfect, but it's generally watchable as long as you're not too picky.
Audio:
Released to theaters with both a Dolby Surround encoded track on 35mm and a 6 track analog 70mm track, Patriot Games sound immensely more satisfying than most films that I've had the pleasure of listening to in 5.1 AC-3. If anything, the track is almost too aggressive, especially during the film's subway sequences, and during the shootout towards the end. The low frequency effect is almost constantly present, and at times I had to reach for my remote to turn the film down. Other than that, directionality was good, if not a tad bit front heavy, as is common with the 70mm blow up tracks from the era. This film came out just shy of the Dolby Digital revolution, so it is limited by the constraints of an older sound format. Overall, this AC-3 track feels right for the film, and is just shy of reference quality sound design, if only for its over-aggressiveness.
Overall:
Come for the story, stay for the great sound design. This THX mastered Laserdisc features an incredibly forceful dolby digital track, and an adequate video transfer, with not a whole lot of detail gained over its original widescreen release. Pick this one up if you're hankering for a deep, seat rocking experience or if you are a fan of the film as I am. If not, the dolby surround encoded widescreen release from Paramount is much easier to acquire at a fraction of the cost, and is just as good visually. This disc comes with a high recommendation from Flcl4evr.