Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Harrison Ford is Jack Ryan straight from the pages of the books by Tom Clancy, this is a follow up to Patriot Games. It sees Jack Ryan involved in looking at the drugs coming from Columbia and as he has to take on a more senior role within the CIA he becomes involved with the president. Including the fact that he starts to realise he can influence policy within the government. I have not read any of the Jack Ryan books and not considered the films as a proper series, especially as you have 3 actors having now played Jack Ryan and all of the films have been produced out of order.

With Willem Dafoe as an operative in Columbia with Benjamin Bratt and Raymond Cruz. With Henry Czerny and Harris Yulin playing a different game that Jack has to go in and sort it out. The politicians allow and sign off on a war on the drug cartels and then when the heat comes up they leave the soldiers hanging and Jack runs off to save them. It is all very action packed and exciting and there are quite a few plots running through the film and you have to pay attention so you know what everybody is up to.

This is a fun packed film with lots of good acting and plenty of explosions for the boys; I think there is too much going on and this probably has a lot to do with the size of The Tom Clancy books and the difficulty in trying to condense them in to a two hour film. Overall an enjoyable film and should been seen as a 7 out of 10. 

Daybreakers (2009)

Format - Cinema
Date - 15 January 2010

In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

Thanks to IMDb for the plot outline.

So your basic plot is that 95% of the world's population are now vampires, the streets are empty during the day and at night it is a thriving metropolis. You get some interesting visuals from the credit scene, where you see a no parking sign 2am to 3am. You have 5% of the population that are still human and are being hunted for food. The opening scene is brilliant and an early nomination for best opening scene and gives one side of the vampire's story.

I went into this film having seen the trailer and due to my love of films and specifically horror thought I might enjoy it. The concept is fantastic, the execution is a bit weak, I enjoyed the film but there were some gaping plot holes, they did not spoil the film as entertainment but you will have questions when you have seen it. The acting is solid, the main idea is really good, but it still just fails to work for me on the whole.

The acting is good, you get creepy from Sam Neil as Charles Bromley the Vampire in charge of Blood distribution and the company trying to find a viable blood replacement. You have nervous and jittery from Ethan Hawke the main scientist trying to and find the blood replacement source. You have good looking human lady in Claudia Karvan playing Audrey and finally Willem Dafoe as the mad, car driving human as Lionel 'Elvis' Cormac.

I would recommend this film to anybody that likes vampire films and good ideas, but if you would not like to be disappointed then possibly just go for a rental.

I would give this 3/5

Let me know if you have seen it and your thoughts on it.