^ I haven't re-watched LW in a long time but it most come very close at least.
Patriot Games (1992)
This 2nd
Jack Ryan Thriller was prime VHS-rental fodder in the 90s but it's not held up as well as it's predecessor
'The Hunt for Red October'.
James Earl Jones reprises his role as this franchises
'M' but apart from that everything else is changed, the Director, the writer, the composer, the Cinematographer, Ryan's wife and of course
Alec Baldwin was replaced by
Harrison Ford. The first film's director
John McTiernan said
"there was a great deal of scheming that went on to push Alec out of that part". Baldwin had a distinctive youthful, nerdy energy that gave his character some compelling definition but Ford is just doing the same interchangeable "reluctant action-hero" thing he does in
'The Fugitive' and
'Air Force One'. The pacing is off, it opens dramatically with Ryan rescuing members of the British Royal family from IRA terrorists and ends with action but in the middle it goes round in circles for 90-minutes. The bad guys are placed in one desert location and Ryan sits in a CIA building going through files about them, the cat and the mouse are on opposite sides of the planet and not on each others heels. The obfuscation of who the double-agent was well played, I was guessing 'til the end. I didn't realise that
Sean Bean's scar above his left eye was caused by Ford accidentally hitting him for real. I noticed
James Horner re-used a bit of his score from 1988's
'Red Heat' but mostly because I know it from already being re-used in 1989's
'The Killer'.
I'm pretty sure the bit of music shared by at least 'Red Heat', 'The Killer' and 'Patriot Games' is the middle of this track,
'Russian Streets':
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
I thought this was much better and more consistent than
'Patriot Games'.
Harrison Ford is playing more of the endearing nerdy CIA analyst version of
Jack Ryan (like in
'The Hunt for Red October'), digging through secret files, using his brains and visibly flinching from bullets and violence. The action-man aspect we saw in the last film is dialled way back but he still has the guts to put himself in danger when the truth is on the line. The espionage thriller plot is convoluted and engrossing, portraying what happens when the saintly "boy scout" Ryan is temporarily promoted (due to his boss undergoing cancer treatment) into the upper echelons of Washington, seemingly populated mostly by smug, lying, cynics and drug cartel informants. It gets really interesting about 45-minutes in when you realise that
Willem Dafoe and his black-ops CIA death-squad are the only people who Ryan finds have any honour, or principles.
James Horner's score is strong, there is a scene intercutting Ryan reading files on a PC, with another guy hurriedly deleting them, which he turns into edge-of-your seat action.
James Earl Jones doesn't have many scenes but he plays them beautifully.