Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is one of the most beloved fictional characters to emerge in the past several decades. Generations of readers have poured over the adventures of the whip-smart CIA analyst who often finds himself in the middle of fieldwork, and Clancy’s stories have inspired several different projects in the years since his original adventure in The Hunt For Red October. Alec Baldwin debuted the role of Ryan in the film adaptation of that novel, and currently John Krasinski inhabits the role on Amazon Prime’s buzzy series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which is set to conclude with its exciting fourth season. Despite the memorable work that Baldwin, Krasinki, The Sum of All Fears’ Ben Affleck, and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’s Chris Pine did, no actor has inhabited the role of Jack Ryan better than Harrison Ford. With his two performances as the character in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, Ford gave the most defining depiction of the character ever to grace the screen. He remains the only actor that has captured the maturity and depth that Clancy had written on the page.
What Makes Harrison Ford’s Jack Ryan So Great?
Unlike other action heroes like Jason Bourne or James Bond, nothing about Jack Ryan requires an origin story. As enjoyable as it was to see Jack Ryan’s first mission in Shadow Recruit, the fact that he’s just an average taxpayer is part of the reason that he’s so extraordinary. Ryan never received any special training or had to live up to some preconceived notion of destiny. This is because he represented the best of what a real person could be, and this idealistic view of patriotism is something that Ford conveys perfectly when he debuted the role in Patriot Games. His version of Ryan is essentially Indiana Jones if he spent more time in the classroom than he did punching Nazis and recovering lost artifacts; he’s a teacher first, and action hero second.
Even though Jack Ryan is modest in talking about himself, it’s evident that he has a lifetime of experience behind him; in Patriot Games, he’s able to imply an entire history with Samuel L. Jackson’s Lt. Commander Robby Jackson that is life unrevealed. Harrison Ford’s subtle nod of approval at a new section of trainees that he and Jackson observe implies that the experiences of boot camp are something he’s very familiar with. Ryan’s heroism is a result of his training and experience, and thus it made sense to introduce Harrison Ford as an older version of the character. It was the perfect role for Ford at a critical period in his career; he wasn’t yet ready to give up on the action genre just yet, but he wasn’t the same young, agile heartthrob he had been a decade prior.
What Differentiates Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan from Other Actors' Performances?
Harrison Ford’s version of Jack Ryan also isn’t one that leaps headstrong into danger for the sake of adventure. This makes him a compelling character that’s distinct from Han Solo or Indy, but it also makes sense considering what his line of duty is. Ryan has spent his lifetime examining tense political situations where any action can inadvertently start a conflict or cause a crisis; he doesn’t want to involve himself or his country in a situation that could soon become volatile. What makes Patriot Games such a compelling thriller is that Ryan has to set aside his professional duties for a personal matter when the emergence of the Irish Republican Army puts his family in danger. As much as he loves his country, Ryan’s duties as a father and husband supersede his obligations as a patriot.
There’s a maturation to his sensibilities that takes place between Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, giving Ford the chance to show how Ryan is colored by his experiences. This isn’t something that any of the other actors that have inhabited the role have had the chance to do. Baldwin, Pine, and Affleck only had one film to inhabit the role, and while Krasinski is given more time over the course of the series, all of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan takes place within a fairly tight window of time. Ford’s version of Ryan is one that really could have had other pivotal adventures both before, in between, and after the events of the films in which he appeared.
Harrison Ford Perfectly Captured Jack Ryan in This Scene
There is no scene in any Tom Clancy adaptation that represents Ryan as a character better than the final moments of Clear and Present Danger, in which Ford’s Ryan confronts the President of the United States (Donal Moffat). Enraged that his friends were needlessly in danger and that his country was willing to cover up its own mistakes, Ford rails on the President in an all-time rant. It’s not just a great moment of Harrison Ford chewing the scenery, but one that comes as a reward for everyone that had been following the character over the years. A younger Ryan wouldn’t have had the confidence to question the nation’s highest authority, but Ford’s version of the character has seen enough needless violence that he can’t hold himself back. “How dare you, sir?” wouldn’t feel right coming out of the mouth of Baldwin or Affleck.
Harrison Ford’s charisma as an action star and family man is also what makes his films so unique; as great as The Hunt For Red October is as a film, Baldwin’s performance as Ryan isn’t nearly as compelling as Sean Connery’s Marko Ramius, Tim Curry’s Dr. Yevgeni Petrov, or Scott Glenn’s Commander Bart Mancuso. He lacks the maturity and field experience to add much beyond his personal insight, even if the events of The Hunt For Red October do color his worldview rather significantly. In many ways, it’s easy to see how Ford’s Ryan is one that Baldwin could have matured into after a few more years in the CIA under his belt.
Tom Clancy’s novels will dominate airport bookstores for many more generations, and it’s clear that Amazon Studios is dead set on turning the “Ryanverse” into the next interconnected franchise of heroes across television and film. While there will certainly be many more stories about his allies and accomplices in the years that follow, Jack Ryan will never be defined by anyone other than Harrison Ford.
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