Jack Ryan

The Jack Ryan character appears in an American series of action-thriller films, based on the fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by Tom Clancy. In the series of five films, four actors have portrayed Ryan. Alec Baldwin portrays him in 1990's The Hunt for Red October, Harrison Ford portrays him in 1992's Patriot Games and 1994's Clear and Present Danger, Ben Affleck plays him in the 2002 reboot The Sum of All Fears and Chris Pine portrays a younger version in the 2014 reboot Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Despite inconsistency with its lead actors and crew members, the series has been distributed solely by Paramount Pictures since its inception. Mace Neufeld has produced every film in the series, with producing partner Robert Rehme co-producing Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger and Lorenzo di Bonaventura co-producing Shadow Recruit. With a combined unadjusted worldwide gross of $788.4 million to date, the films constitute the 57th highest-grossing film series. The films have been nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one for Sound Effects (now Sound Editing) in The Hunt for Red October (at the 63rd Awards).

Appearances By Film

Overview

The Hunt for Red October (1990) is set in 1984. Central Intelligence Agency analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) must track down the Red October, a technologically superior Soviet nuclear sub heading to America's east coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), and prove to the American government his theory that the sub's mission is to defect rather than attack the American coast. After being boarded by Ryan, the American submarine USS Dallas assists Red October in escaping from attacks by the Soviet submarine V.K. Konovalov and safely brings it to the United States.

Patriot Games (1992) begins with former CIA analyst, Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford), now a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, badly wounded after intervening and even killing an assailant in an attack of the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in London. The remaining attackers escape, including Sean Miller (Sean Bean), the brother of the killed assailant who vows to hunt down and kill Ryan. After two simultaneous attacks aimed towards Ryan and his family, Ryan rejoins the CIA to learn more about Miller and his group of Irish revolutionaries.

Clear and Present Danger (1994) has Jack Ryan appointed as acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence, as Vice Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones) becomes sick with cancer. When a family close to the President is murdered in their sleep by what appears to be drug cartels, Ryan is called in to investigate. Unknown to him, the CIA sends in a secret field operative to lead an illegal paramilitary force against the cartels in Colombia with the help of John Clark (Willem Dafoe). Risking both his life and his career, Ryan exposes the truth behind the entire situation.

The Sum of All Fears (2002) is set in 2002 and departs from the chronology of the previous three films. After the President of the Russian Federation dies and is replaced by a man with a mysterious past, the United States goes on alert to rising Cold War fears. Through the paranoia, CIA director William Cabot (Morgan Freeman) recruits young analyst Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) to supply insight and advice on the situation. Ryan soon discovers that a neo-fascist terrorist group is planning to provoke a war between the U.S. and Russia, by detonating a nuclear bomb at a football game in Baltimore.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) is set in 2013 in a fictional universe apart from the previous four films. After the events of September 11 attacks, Jack Ryan (Chris Pine), studying at the London School of Economics, becomes a Marine second lieutenant in Afghanistan, where he is critically injured when his helicopter is shot down. Ten years later, Ryan is working on Wall Street with a cover job as a compliance officer at a stock brokerage, and as a covert CIA analyst, where he discovers that certain accounts are inaccessible to him as auditor, which leads him to Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh). With Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner), Jack works to stop a plot to collapse the dollar.

Background information and notes

The continuity of the films differ from the novels. In the novels, Patriot Games occurs before The Hunt for Red October, though the order was reversed in the film versions. Additionally, The Sum of All Fears is not part of the Baldwin/Ford series, but rather an intended reboot of the franchise, and therefore departs significantly from the chronology of the novels. It takes place in 2002, whereas the novel takes place in 1991/1992. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a second reboot of the franchise that departs from all previous films.