Clear and Present Danger is a 1994 American spy thriller film that was directed by Phillip Noyce and is based on Tom Clancy’s novel of the same name. It was preceded by the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October and the 1992 film Patriot Games, all three featuring Clancy’s character Jack Ryan. It is the last film version of Clancy’s novels to feature Harrison Ford as Ryan and James Earl Jones as Vice Admiral James Greer, as well as the final installment that was directed by Noyce.

As in the novel, Ryan is appointed CIA Acting Deputy Director, and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by colleagues who are conducting a cover war against a drug cartel in Colombia, apparently with the approval of the President. The film premiered in theaters in the United States on August 3, 1994, and was a major financial success, earring over $200 million at the box office.

The Film Itself (4/5):

Clear and Present Danger is the third installment of this series, and it provides its viewers with a semi-commercialized, yet mostly entertaining adventure. Being a significantly clearer adaptation of the Clancy bestselling novel, the overall narrative of this movie allows for this movie to be the cinematic equivalent of a mind-grabbing page turner of a book. Improving itself from the mistakes that were made from the previous film of the series, “Clear and Present Danger” gives its viewers just enough of edge-of-your-seat thrills with your standard, yet highly debatable political message, it’s another one of my personal favorites that I’ve been happy to see get the 4K UHD treatment.

Picture Quality (4.5/5):

The 4K UHD release of Clear and Present Danger takes the mistakes that were so blatantly obvious with the previously released copes of the movie and absolutely rectifies them. Reducing the amount of DNR significantly, this release feels much more natural and that it’s being presented in a way that it really was meant to be. With its utilization of Dolby Vision, there are some noticeable drains in the colors when compared to the Blu-ray release, however you can tell that this was an attempt to push the grays, and overall saturation to the images.

Audio Quality (4/5):

Packaged with the same Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix as the 2008 release, the 4K UHD copy of Clear and Present Danger gives its viewers an absolutely powerful, lossless experience that absolutely roars through home theater systems. While it’s not as immersive as it could have been with the inclusion of the surround channels, or even the elevation aspect, the track packaged with this release is clean. The recognition of the viewers in relation to the screen was noticeable as the transitions from channel to channel were clean, and the dialogue was clean and clear, allowing for everything to be heard without having to adjust the volume levels as the movie progressed.

The Packaging (4/5):

Clear and Present Danger comes packaged in the Jack Ryan: 5-Film Collection.  This collection is packaged in a ten-disc, extra thick amaray case that contains the 4K UHD discs of all of the films within, as well as the standard Blu-ray copies of all of the films advertised within.  While there are no DVD copies of the films included with this bundle, there is a digital copy redemption pamphlet that contains the necessary codes to add the five movies to collections for the various streaming platforms.  There’s also a slipcover that’s been provided that has the same artwork that’s also been provided on the case art.

  

Special Features (2/5):

The 4K UHD release of Clear and Present Danger provides its viewers with no new special features in comparison to its previously released counterpart. Unfortunately, the UHD disc doesn’t include any special features at all, and the content that is included is made available on the included Blu-ray disc. Included with this release is:

• Disk 1
  • No Additional Features
• Disk 2
  • Behind The Danger – Cast & Crew Interviews
  • Theatrical Trailer

Technical Specs:

Video

Codec: HEVC / H2.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

HDR: Dolby Vision + HDR10

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, 2.35:1

Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Audio

English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

German: Dolby Digital 5.1

Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

French: Dolby Digital 5.1

Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1

Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0

Polish: Dolby Digital Mono

Portuguese: Dolby Digital Mono

Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles

English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

Runtime

Original Film: 141 Minutes

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I was happy to sit down and revisit Clear and Present Danger as it has been quite some time since I’d last seen this movie.  The 4K UHD version offers a significantly better visual presentation over its previously released counterpart.  The audio track is the same exact one that’s been previously provided, which is a shame that they didn’t really take the time to put any kind of additional attention into.  The special features are pretty sparse, almost practically nonexistent; but the ones that have been provided were certainly appreciated.  If you’re considering this release for your collection, I’d definitely recommend grabbing it if you don’t already have the previously released Blu-ray copy of the collection.  The Jack Ryan 5-Film Collection is available on 4K UHD today.

Note: This Blu-ray was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.