History Film / PatriotGames

* BoomHeadshot: Annette deals this to Jimmy O'Reardon after having sex, allowing O'Donnell to move forward with his own plans unopposed.

* ItsPersonal: The main reason Miller is so hell-bent on revenge against Ryan, a plot device that was not present in the book

* OhCrap: Ryan's reaction when he realizes he's being stalked. It kicks into high gear after surviving the attempt on his life, as he realizes that if Sean Miller didn't come after ''him'', he's going after his family.

-->I will fucking ''destroy'' you!

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patriot_games.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Harrison Ford is about to...well, you know.]]]]

!!This film provides examples of:

-->'''Annette''': ''(Points her gun)'' You crazy bastard! ''(Miller kills her)''
----

''Patriot Games'' is a 1992 film starring Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/SeanBean, Creator/SamuelLJackson, Creator/JamesEarlJones, Ann Archer, and Creator/RichardHarris, adapted from the [[Literature/PatriotGames novel of the same name]] by Creator/TomClancy. It is the sequel to ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' and was followed by a third film, ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger''.

** Although he's the main character, Jack Ryan is himself one, as an ex-CIA, ex-Marine who intervenes with an assassination attempt. When the terrorists try to assassinate ''him'' in vengeance, they get the weight of the American government dropped onto them.

* RevengeMyopia: Sean Miller wants to kill Jack because he killed his brother Patrick, but it occurred during their assassination attempt against Lord Holmes. Of course, from Miller's perspective, their mission against Holmes was justified, and Ryan was an unwanted interloper.

* ItsPersonal: The main reason Miller is so hell-bent on revenge against Ryan, a plot device that was not present in the book.

* AxCrazy: Miller.

* RevengeMyopia: Sean Miller wants to kill Jack because he killed his brother Patrick, but it occurred during their assassination attempt against Lord Holmes.

* SanitySlippage: Miller starts out as a calm, collected professional. After Ryan kills his brother, Miller starts out [[Tranquil Fury seemingly calm]] but taking every possible chance to lash out at Ryan. By the end of the film, Miller [[spoiler:kills his own colleagues]] and becomes little more than a snarling, rage-fueled animal.

* ShutUpHannibal: Miller delivers one to O'Donnell when he abandons the mission to kidnap Holmes to kill Ryan against O'Donnell's protests, before promptly shooting him.
-->'''O'Donnell''': He's leading us away from the royal! (...) Don't blow the mission now, boy!
-->'''Miller''': That's '''NOT''' my mission! ''(Pumps O'Donnell full of lead)''

* HoneyTrap: Annette poses as a server at a bar where her boss O'Donnell meets with IRA brigade commander Jimmy, then is next seen in bed with him at a motel. Before things can go further, she shoots him as he's trying to stop O'Donnell and their cell.

* KarmicDeath: O'Donnell leads a splinter faction of the IRA that favors more violent tactics in pursuing the royal family. Thus, he makes the effort to free Miller, his most AxCrazy operative. This backfires horribly on him when he interferes with Miller's RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Ryan, and is promptly killed for it.

* KnightOfCerebus: Given this film to be DarkerAndEdgier then the other ''Literature/JackRyan'' features, amongst the terrorist antagonists, the IRA and AxCrazy Miller are the most darkest, violent and brutal villains in the film series, especially Miller, the IRA cell's RevengeBeforeReason-driven PsychoForHire.

* MookHorrorShow: The scene with the Spec. Ops destroying the terrorist camp: between the unsettling music, the satellite visuals that are ''just'' clear enough to show what a gruesome CurbStompBattle it is and the sheer impersonal attitude by the CIA members watching, it portrayed as far less of a triumphant moment than it should be.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Sean Miller's brother's name is Patrick. But there's also Paddy O'Neil, the IRA Bagman. "Paddy" is short for "Patrick".

* OutWithABang: Annette takes out one target by shooting him midway through sex.
* PapaWolf: Jack is an easy-going History professor, but stand between him and the man threatening his family, and he will ''fucking destroy you.'' Helping is the fact that he's a former Marine and CIA agent.

* PragmaticVillainy: While O'Donnell and a few of the members of his cell grant Miller some resources and leeway for exacting revenge against Ryan for Patrick's death, they warn him not to get too obsessed with Ryan, as it interferes with their plans to kidnap or assassinate Lord Holmes, and the greater political goal of their terrorist acts in general. When his assassination attempts against Ryan and his family fail and he still wants more revenge, they chide him for disregarding their earlier warning and order him back to work on their kidnapping/assassination project. Then, as the IRA realizes Miller's stirring up Ryan against them has become a major liability to their cause, they sell out his splinter faction for being more trouble than it's worth. Plus he'd already killed one of the IRA's brigade commanders, who had sent men to kill him because of the dangers that his plan had for them. That alone would be enough for them to disown O'Donnell.
* PrecisionFStrike: Jack goes to O'Neil asking him for help finding Sean Miller and his men. He refuses to sell out his own countrymen (not least of all because it would likely shorten his lifespan considerably). Jack informs him that if they don't help him, he'll go to the press back in the US and insist the IRA was behind the hit on his family (despite knowing for a fact they weren't), destroying their reputation and support among the sympathetic Irish-American population.

* RealityEnsues: Middle-aged Jack gets his ass kicked by the much-younger Ned Clark and it's only the fast action of the guards that save his life.

* RenegadeSplinterFaction: Like the novel, the terrorist cell is an offshoot of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. In the movie they're unnamed, though, and it goes even further: they kill/snitch on IRA members, as O'Donnell does to some IRA gunmen in one scene, and Annette during sex with another IRA member. In the book they are also Marxist-oriented, while this group is just a more extreme version of the IRA's ideology.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: As soon as she realizes what is going on, Kathy ushers their daughter into a bedroom closet and retrieves a shotgun. Unfortunately, [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets she can't find the shells]], so when Annette comes looking for them, Kathy gives her [[PistolWhipping a butt to the face.]]

** Although he's the main character, Jack Ryan is himself one, as an ex-CIA, ex-Marine who intervenes an assassination attempt. When the terrorists try to assassinate ''him'' in vengeance, they get the weight of the American government dropped onto them.
** A random motorist in a black Pontiac sees Sean Miller pointing a submachinegun at another car and rushes to the rescue, honking his horn and blocking the line of fire with his own car. We never see his face, and he's never mentioned in dialogue.

* BritishRoyalGuards: They show up a little late, but they ''do'' get to show some of their mettle in this film. Sally Ryan does a brief tapdancing routine in front of one guard trying to get a reaction, and when he doesn't respond she says "I'm impressed" and wanders off. Shortly thereafter, they're the first Brits to respond to the attack on Lord Holmes and his family.

* ChekhovsGunman: The Marine sentry at the Annapolis gate [[spoiler: saves Jack from an assassin on his way home.]] The BritishRoyalGuards are a more minor example in the intro. Also, Cathy Ryan is a physician, which comes in quite handy when Jack is injured in the melee.

''Patriot Games'' is a 1992 film starring Creator/HarrisonFord and Creator/SeanBean, adapted from the [[Literature/PatriotGames novel of the same name]] by Creator/TomClancy. It is the sequel to ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' and was followed by a third film, ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger''.

-->'''CIA Agent''': That's a kill. (sips coffee)

* MookHorrorShow: The scene with the Spec. Ops destroying the terrorist camp: between the unsettling music, the satellite visuals that are ''just'' clear enough to show what a gruesome CurbStompBattle it is and the sheer impersonal attitude by the CIA members watching, it portrayed as far of a triumphant moment than it should be.

* GetItOverWith: As Sean Miller's cohorts rescue him from the prison van, they prepare to execute the guards, asking if any of them has any last words. Inspector Highland simply says:Get on with it and be on your way."

* HostageSituation[=/=]HumanShield: When Miller's cohorts attack the van, they drag the driver from it and threaten to kill him unless the van doors are opened. Inspector Highland tells the other officers to open the door. When they protest that they should wait, Highland snaps, "For what? For them to kill him and ''then'' open the door?"
** Earlier, in the opening sequence, Cathy shields Sally with her body, and Ryan shields them both with his as the shooting starts.

** In the film, Miller is killed when he falls on a boat anchor and is impaled. In the book he is disarmed and captured by Jack Ryan, who turns him over to the authorities. It is mentioned in later books that he was sentenced to death for his crimes and executed by the state of Maine.
** Dennis Cooley dies much earlier in the movie than in the book, and under very different circumstances.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Miller is killed when Jack pushes him into a boat anchor.

* ShoutOut: One of the villains [[spoiler: while waiting for his assassin]] is watching ''Harry's Game'', a miniseries about a British Army officer undercover in the IRA. The main score can be heard in the background during the scene.

* DeathByAdaptation: In the film, Miller is killed when he falls on a boat anchor and is impaled. In the book he is disarmed and captured by Jack Ryan, who turns him over to the authorities. It is mentioned in later books that he was sentenced to death for his crimes and executed by the state of Maine.

* GetItOverWith: As Sean Miller's cohorts rescue him from the prison van, they prepare to execute the guards, asking if any of them has any last words. Inspector Highland simply says:
-->'''Inspector Highland:''' Get on with it and be on your way.
-->'''Kevin O'Donnell:''' Very well, then. ''[O'Donnell hands his pistol to Miller. Miller shoots Highland in the back of the head, then does the same to Highland's colleagues]''

* UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora: It's not focused on, but Jack is an Irish-American, and allusions are made to the support that the Irish-American population generally gave to the IRA and the IRA's vested interest in ensuring everyone in the US knows they aren't responsible for Miller's rampage, since the group that Miller's in is a splinter cell. It's also possible Annette and Holmes' secretary are of Irish descent, as they participate in Irish nationalist terrorism, however it isn't explicitly revealed (Annette at least is considered English by Paddy O'Neil, as he's unwilling to betray other Irish people, but turns over information on her to Jack).

* BadassBystander: Jack Ryan is sightseeing in London when he ends up intervening in an attempted assassination attempt. {{Deconstructed}} to a degree when the terrorists he stopped want revenge...

* SequelHook: A mild example, but we never find out what the gender of Cathy's baby is as the movie ends. ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger'' reveals [[spoiler: it's a boy.]]