My Take: The best of the Tom Clancy adaptations. <br /><br />Harrison Ford is Jack Ryan, and you better believe it. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER is the third adaptation of yet another Tom Clancy bestseller, spawned by the success of the previous Clancy adaptations THE HUNT FOR RED October and PATRIOT GAMES. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, like the previous films, successfully thrills their audiences with exciting sequences that, also, manages to stay plausible and never too unbelievably silly. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER may not have succeeded to become a total thrill-ride, but in the end it delivers its political message well. It's a slightly long, but thrilling and exciting Clancy adaptation. <br /><br />Once again, Ford returns as Jack Ryan, who is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence, when CIA Deputy James Greer (James Earl Jones) is ill with cancer. His first mission: To investigate the death of one of the President's closest friends, who has connections with drug cartels. Ryan, once again, fights for what he believes is the truth, unknown to him that the National Security Adviser (Harris Yulin) has already dispatched mercenary elite troops, led by field operator John Clark (Willem Dafoe), on a covert operation in Columbia. <br /><br />But even if you don't get involved with the story or haven't read any of Tom Clancy's bestselling techno-thrillers (like myself), you must admit how exciting, edgy and believable this film is. Once more, it's also well-written on the screen and don't get wasted. When the film doesn't stun you with its action sequences devised by director Phillip Noyce and his crew of cinematographers and stunt directors, it involves you in the political situations made real and plausible by the adapted script by Donald Stewart, John Millius and Steven Zallian. Honestly, the sequences that involves Ryan arguing with the President of the United States are just as good to watch as the films more exciting sequences (The memorable ambush sequence and the RAMBO-esquire finale are the first to come to mind).<br /><br />Even if the film isn't exactly the total "keeps you on the edge of your seat" action thriller, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER delivers its political message as well as thrilling excitement all in the same show. <br /><br />Rating: ***** out of 5.