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(Review originally written at 13 November 2005)

This is a good and above average political thriller with action elements in it. Still the movie gets a bit too complicated at times and isn't always easy to follow. The movie is also long and some point of the movie are dragging on, even though the pace always remains good and high.

It's hard to say in which genre this movie can be put. For an action movie it doesn't have enough action and for a thriller the story isn't good enough. It makes "Clear and Present Danger" a bit of a mixed movie that is far from perfect but still remains a perfectly watchable movie with some great actors and some memorable moments.

Main problem I had with the movie is that it lacked a distinctive visual style. A problem all Phillip Noyce movies always have. That's why I'm not a too big fan of Phillip Noyce movies, with the exception of "Dead Calm" maybe, which simply had a very solid and tense story. "Clear and Present Danger" is a good made movie but it just is too simply and standard done all and it isn't really anything new.

The cast is great and has some big names in it; Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Harris Yulin, Donald Moffat, Henry Czerny, Joaquim de Almeida, Miguel Sandoval, Benjamin Bratt, Willem Dafoe, Ted Raimi in a small role and a still very young Thora Birch.

The music by James Honer is really good. Even though it's typical Horner stuff, like he always used in his '90's movies, it works really well for the movie and truly uplifts the movie at times.

There are some good moments in the movie that are highly memorable such as the convoy ambush which has become a bit of a classic already perhaps. Yes, the movie is perfectly watchable but the story isn't always the best to follow and at times the storytelling is lacking. Still, a movie that I would recommend to you.

7/10

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About Frank Veenstra

Watches movies...writes about them...and that's it for now.
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