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Admiral Greer: Excuse me, Jack, tell me one thing in life that is absolutely for certain.
Jack Ryan: My daughter's love.

Patriot Games is a 1992 film starring Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Anne Archer, and Richard Harris, directed by Phillip Noyce and adapted from the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. The second film in the original Jack Ryan trilogy, it is the sequel to 1990's The Hunt for Red October and was followed by a third film, Clear and Present Danger, two years later. Notably, this installment recasts every major role from the first film (with the exception of James Earl Jones, who returns as Vice Admiral Greer), with the follow-up retaining these changes.

As in the novel, Ryan is on a working vacation in London, researching for an upcoming book of his when not playing "tourist" with his family, when he gets involved in The Troubles by interfering with an attack on the British royal family by an IRA splinter group, which then seeks revenge on him for the interference in the kidnapping of Lord Holmes, a member of the royal family.


Patriot Games contains examples of:

  • 555: Cathy Ryan's mobile phone number is 555-3464.
  • Action Survivor: Jack Ryan, despite being a Badass Bookworm, is generally out of his depth in a stand-up fight. In two of the movie's three fight scenes, Jack has the Home Field Advantage (in fact, the assassin at Annapolis seems to almost go out of his way to attack him in the one place where The Cavalry can arrive immediately), and in the third, he has the element of surprise, being an unexpected Badass Bystander.
  • Actor Allusion:
    • Jack Ryan is seen crossing Hanover Street. Hanover Street is the title of another novel made into a movie starring Harrison Ford.
    • The scene in which Ryan zooms in on and analyses different parts of the satellite photograph is a Shout-Out to Blade Runner.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In the books Cathy Ryan is a blonde.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the book, Sean Miller seeks revenge because he had never failed a mission before and Ryan ruined his record. Here, his brother was killed by Ryan.
  • Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The film omits that Sean and some others had already left the IRA camp to launch their attack on Ryan's house when the assault happens, leaving them appearing to come out of nowhere in the climax.
  • Adaptation Induced Plothole: The betrayal of Lord Holmes' secretary comes right out of left field compared to the passing justification given in the novel.
  • Adaptational Villainy: The film version of Sean Miller is even more violent and crazy than the book version. This may be related to his Adaptational Angst Upgrade.
  • Adaptational Wimp: In the book, Dennis Cooley joins the group at their training camp and is part of the group that attacks the Ryan home at the end. In the movie, he's completely inept with a gun and Miller kills him when he realizes he's useless.
  • Artistic License – Geography: Sean Miller is transferred from a prison in London to one on the Isle of Wight. In later dialogue, it is stated that the ambush happened in Kent. If you're going from London to the Isle of Wight via Kent, you are going in completely the wrong direction.
    • The tube train leaving Aldwych (then a minor spur in the centre of London, now closed) and "stopping at Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Green Park, Acton Town, Hammersmith, Marble Arch, Hounslow East, South Ealing and Hyde Park Corner" before terminating at Hatton Cross. This route bends London in interesting ways.
  • Assassin Outclassin': Kevin O'Donnell outwits Jimmy O'Reardon by pretending to play along with his overtures, then dispatching three IRA hitmen Jimmy sends to his house.
  • Ax-Crazy: Sean Miller. His brother's death sends him on a bloody vendetta against Jack Ryan, to the point that he becomes more concerned with killing Ryan than actually accomplishing any of the IRA's political goals. When his mission gets in the way of his vengeance, he promptly guns down his boss Kevin O'Donnell and goes after Ryan himself.
  • Back in the Saddle: Jack has quit working for the CIA to teach History at the US Naval Academy. The events of the film conspire to get him working for The Company again.
  • Badass Bookworm: Downplayed Trope: Jack Ryan is a former Marine, and a determined Papa Wolf, but he has spent his career in the CIA as an analyst and is now an aging history professor. In the Naval Yard ambush, he gets the drop on Ned Clark, but only gets a few blows in before getting pummeled senseless, and is only saved when a sentry shows up and shoots Clark as he tries to draw his gun.
  • Bad Boss: O'Donnell thought nothing of letting Miller execute Dennis Cooley after deciding he had no more use for him.
  • Badass Bystander:
    • Although he's the main character, Jack Ryan is himself one, as an ex-CIA, former Marine who intervenes with an kidnapping 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 submachine gun 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.
  • Battle in the Rain: The climactic boat chase at the end.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Sean Miller and Kevin O'Donnell until the former goes completely crazy and kills the latter in order to pursue his personal vendetta.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Annette deals this to Jimmy O'Reardon as part of the Honey Trap, allowing O'Donnell to move forward with his own plans unopposed.
  • Brick Joke: Ryan calls his house maid and instructs her to replace Sally's fish in case it turns out they died from not being fed. The family comes home and Sally notices that they've gotten bigger.
  • British Royal Guards: They show up a little late, but they do get to show some of their mettle in this film. Sally Ryan does a brief tap-dancing 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.
    Guard: Army! Drop it!
  • Busman's Holiday: Ryan certainly has an oddly familiar holiday experience in London.
  • Category Traitor: Miller and his men consider Inspector Robert Highland to be one of these because he's an Irishman working for the British criminal justice system (from his last name it can be guessed he's probably a Protestant Unionist, and so on the other side of The Troubles from them). For this, they execute him with a bullet to the back of the head when they liberate Miller.
    • Or, worse from the perspective of the IRA, he is an Irish Catholic who is nonetheless a Unionist and so for them the ultimate kind of traitor - even though Highland himself says he feels some of the rage they do he cannot stand terrorism and killing people.
  • The Cavalry: Jack is saved by the Marine sentries when he is attacked outside the gate at the Navy Academy.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • The Marine sentry at the Annapolis gate saves Jack from an assassin on his way home. The British Royal Guards 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.
    • Inverted later on, where the analyst who inspired Jack's "Eureka!" Moment can be seen later on in the satellite room.
  • Cliffhanger: A rather low key one, as the film ends with Ryan about to learn the gender of his new baby. The next film reveals it's a boy.
  • Continuity Nod: One of the first scenes of the film has Jack, in his role as a speaker, giving a lecture to the Royal Naval Academy on the future of Soviet naval deployment.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: When the SAS soldiers launch their night raid on the desert camp, it's less of a battle than it is a slaughter. The entire battle lasts only a couple of minutes, with presumably everyone in the camp killed (although we do see one camp defender feebly crawling along the ground). Later, Marty comments that some of the people in the camp will have to be identified by dental records due to the corpses being unrecognizable.
  • Cycle of Revenge: Ryan thwarts a terrorist attack and kills the brother of one of the terrorists. And now, Miller wants to get revenge by killing Ryan and his family. Miller manages to wound his wife and daughter, but not kill them, and Ryan rejoins the CIA to get revenge on Miller.
  • Dark Action Girl: Annette, girlfriend of Kevin O'Donnell and member of the main team of villains.
  • Darker and Edgier: Probably the darkest of the Jack Ryan films. It's also the only Jack Ryan movie to be given an R rating, until the release of Without Remorse.
  • The Determinator: It becomes clear as the movie progresses, that after his brother is killed, all Sean Miller cares about is killing Ryan and doesn't care about the IRA's mission to kidnap the royals. He even kills O'Donnell and Annette in order to continue chasing Ryan.
  • Death by Adaptation:
    • 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.
    • Ned Clark is simply arrested by the guards in the novel before he can get to Ryan, while here he is shot dead after attacking Jack.
    • Inspector Highland survived being shot by Miller in the novel.
  • Death by Irony: O'Donnell busts Miller out of prison as he is his most valuable hitman. Instead, Miller's desire for revenge has overtaken him so completely that by the end he murders O'Donnell for daring to interfere with his pursuit of Ryan.
  • Decoy Convoy: When a terrorist is to be transferred between prisons by van, a number of decoy vans are sent out at the same time in various directions to confuse anyone who wants to free the prisoner. The trick fails and the other terrorists capture the real van because The Mole tipped them off.
  • Designated Girl Fight: Annette gets ambushed by Cathy when she turns a corner only to be met by the back end of Cathy's unloaded shotgun.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Miller is this to O'Donnell. After his brother is killed, he doesn't care about O'Donnell's plans on kidnapping Lord Holmes. He only wants to get revenge on Ryan and his family for the death of his brother. In the final battle, Miller ends up shooting both O'Donnell and Annette as they attempt to turn the boat around to get Holmes as Ryan uses himself as bait for the terrorists.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Jack Ryan is sight seeing in London when he sees a car leaving the Royal Palace get boxed in by two stolen cars, from which Miller and his brother burst out, wearing ski masks. He immediately sprints across the street yelling for his family to take cover before the bomb goes off and the shooting starts. Soon after, Jack leaps into the fray to intervene in the attack. Thus, the audience immediately knows that Jack is quick at being savvy in realizing what is about to happen, and doesn't hesitate when action is needed.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Sean Miller attempts to take revenge on Ryan and his family for killing his brother to stop a terrorist attack the two were a part of.
  • Exact Words: Paddy O'Neil tells Jack that he would never reveal where Sean Miller is hiding as he'd never betray a fellow Irishman. However Annette, who is part of his outfit, is English, not Irish.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When the prison convoy is ambushed, Inspector Highland tells O'Donnell to just kill him and get it over with.
  • Final Battle: Between Ryan and Miller.
  • Freudian Excuse: Miller and his brother's parents were killed and they were taken in by O'Donnell, who indoctrinated them into the IRA.
  • Friend or Foe?: Lord Holmes' aide, the mole who's been supplying inside information to the terror cell, gets killed when Sean Miller sprays the basement indiscriminately with submachine gun fire, earning him a What the Hell, Hero? from his boss.
  • Get It Over With: 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."
  • Hand Signals: A tech uses a camera with a fiber optic lens plugged into a portable monitor to peek under a door at an IRA bomb factory and holds up four fingers to tell the officers behind him how many suspects there are inside. The cops proceed to relay the signal back to those behind them in the stairwell.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Paddy, who offers to provide Jack pictures of terrorists from the unit who attacked his family.
  • Home Field Advantage: An assassin attempts to attack Jack within sight of a pair of armed Marine sentries, all but guaranteeing an immediate armed response. Later, the film's climactic battle takes place in the Ryans' home.
  • Honey Trap: 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.
  • Hostage Situation: When Miller's cohorts attack the convoy, they take the bridge keeper hostage and threaten to kill him unless the van doors are opened. Inspector Highland tells the other officers to open the door. When they protest, Highland snaps, "But what?! Wait for them to kill him and then open the door?"
  • Human Shield: In the opening sequence, Cathy shields Sally with her body, and Ryan shields them both with his as the shooting starts. Lord Holmes can also be seen pushing his wife and son to the floor of the car and placing himself over them.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Miller is killed when Jack pushes him into a boat anchor.
  • Imperiled in Pregnancy: Cathy is in the second trimester of her pregnancy when she and Sally are injured in a car accident caused by Miller.
  • Incoming Ham: Robby Jackson interrupts Jack Ryan's history course by marching into the room and announcing "Attention to Orders!" before presenting him with The Order Of The Purple Target, in the hopes that next time, Jack will duck.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: A variation — after Jack Ryan's IRA informant gives him pictures of the people who had attempted to kill Ryan (and in a separate attack, his wife and daughter), Jack's superior dismisses the information, believing that mole is trying to mislead Jack. "All he has to do is show you a few pictures of a girl..." Jack realizes he never told the man he was looking for a female assassin and realizes the information must be legitimate.
  • Interrupted by the End: Cathy learns whether her unborn child will be a boy or a girl, just before the credits roll on a shot of Jack Ryan anxiously awaiting the answer.
  • Intimidation Demonstration: During the trial, Sean Miller leaps at Jack Ryan, snarling at him for killing his brother. Jack stands his ground.
  • Irony: Sergeant Owens makes an angry reference to finding The Mole responsible for Lord Holmes' kidnapping attempt. Geoffrey Watkins, later revealed to be the mole, is standing right next to him.
  • It's Personal:
    • The main reason Miller is so hell-bent on revenge against Ryan, a plot device that was not present in the book.
    • The same goes for Jack, who demands his old job back at the CIA so that he can pursue the people who tried to murder him and his family.
  • I Shall Taunt You: Miller calls Jack at home to chat about how he nearly killed Jack's family.
  • Karmic Death:
    • 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 Ax-Crazy operative. This backfires horribly on him when he interferes with Miller's Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Ryan, and is promptly killed for it.
    • Same for Annette who also was heavily involved with the faction. Her attempt to avenge O'Donnell has her angrily pointing her gun at Miller yelling "You crazy bastard" rather than just shooting him right away. That gives him the window to kill her instantly too.
    • Same with Holmes' traitorous secretary Watkins, who makes it possible for O'Donnell and Miller to ambush Ryan and Holmes at the former's home; he is found out and left to his comrades, and is mistakenly gunned down by Miller in his pursuit of Ryan.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Given this film is Darker and Edgier then the other Jack Ryan features, amongst the terrorist antagonists, the IRA splinter cell and Ax-Crazy Miller are the most darkest, violent and brutal villains in the film series, especially Miller, the IRA cell's Revenge Before Reason-driven Psycho for Hire.
  • Medal of Dishonor: Friendly joke version: Jack is presented with the Order of the Purple Target after he returns to the Navy Academy.
  • Mirror Scare: Ryan realizes that Ned Clark is stalking him when he sees his reflection in a van window.
  • The Mole: Geoffrey Watkins, aide to Lord Holmes, is responsible for making possible the splinter cell's first attempt on Holmes's life.
  • Mook Horror Show: The scene with the SAS destroying the terrorist camp: between the unsettling music, the satellite visuals that are just clear enough to show what a gruesome Curb-Stomp Battle it is and the sheer impersonal attitude by the CIA members watching, it's portrayed as far less of a triumphant moment than it should be.
    CIA Agent: That is a kill. (sips coffee)
  • Ms. Fanservice:
    • One of Cathy's scenes involves her being romanced by Jack while wearing a slinky red negligee.
    • Annette's introduction has her seduce an IRA commander by writhing around in bed with him while wearing little more than lingerie.
  • Named by the Adaptation: The member of the British Royal Family who Ryan rescues from a terrorist attack is named as Lord William Holmes; in the novel, he is unnamed but heavily implied to be Prince Charles, along with his then-wife Princess Diana.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
    • If the splinter cell hadn't liberated Miller, their plans to kidnap Lord Holmes might've worked. It was ultimately his lust for revenge against Ryan that led to the plan failing. Their loyalty to him proved the undoing of the group.
    • The reverse is true as well. Miller's refusal to give up on getting revenge on Ryan meant killing both O'Donnell and Annette—and in doing so, systematically ending their scheme to target Lord Holmes.
    Miller: This is not my mission!
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Step in to help strangers from being killed by masked gunmen? One of them wants revenge for you killing his brother, and has violently escaped from prison, and he will cross oceans to seek Revenge on you by going after your family in turn.
    Cathy: It was him, wasn't it? He's never gonna leave us alone...
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • 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.
    • Near the end, when Ryan notices the power has been knocked out to his house, but not the boathouse. He immediately realizes it's not a blackout, and none of the security around his home is responding to his calls. Meanwhile at the CIA headquarters Marty has also been unable to contact security; he too realizes what's happening and orders a rescue team to save the Ryan family.
  • Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Middle-aged Jack gets his ass kicked by the much-younger Ned Clark and it's only the fast action of the Marine guards that saves his life.
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted. Sean Miller's brother's name is Patrick. But there's also Paddy O'Neil, the IRA Bagman. "Paddy" is short for "Patrick". It's a quite common name of Irishmen, up to the point that "Paddy" is itself slang for an Irish person, and thus not surprising.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: Played straight. Ryan recovers from his gunshot wound to the shoulder wearing nothing but a sling on his arm. A notable difference from the book, which averts this trope.
  • Out with a Bang: Annette takes out one target by shooting him right before intending to have sex.
  • Papa Wolf: 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.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: It's not that her disguise is bad, per se, but rather that Annette never bothers to use a different wig any time she needs a disguise, meaning that she always has the same striking red-haired appearance whenever she is running an op. This helps Jack zero in on her.
  • Police Are Useless: The state troopers and DSS agents guarding the house at the end are all killed easily by a bunch of rag-tag IRA terrorists.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: Considering the difficulties of getting the real life Prince and Princess of Wales to star in the movie, it's likely why Lord William Holmes was created.
  • Pragmatic Villainy:
    • While on their way to murder Jack's wife and daughter, Sean and his driver stop short and wait for a group of schoolgirls to cross the street rather than run them down to pursue their target. Were they to run them down, they'd likely damage their van and attract too much attention while their target, in a much faster car (equipped with a mobile phone), notices and escapes.
    • 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 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 project.
    • 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 and sell him out.
  • Precision F-Strike: 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 populace.
    Jack: I will fucking destroy you!
  • Product Placement:
    • During the IRA's attempted assassination of O'Donnell, he can be seen enjoying a cup of Tetley tea, with a box of tea prominently showing a logo to the camera... as an assassin walks past it.
    • The team of detectives and officers who storm the IRA safehouse are seen using Sony video devices to run a camera feed into the room.
  • Properly Paranoid: Upon leaving work, Jack is preparing to cross the street when he notices Ned Clark idling nearby. Clark casually walks away, but Jack is clearly unnerved, then gets even more nervous as he hears a car engine starting. His suspicions are well warranted-as he continues walking down the street, the audience sees that both Clark and the car are following him. Luckily, Jack notices this too and is able to thwart the attempt on his life, as well as get a glimpse of Annette, the getaway driver.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure:
    • Admiral Greer. He rarely ever gives orders, but is able to make it clear in few words what he expects his people to do. Whenever Jack seems unsure, he provides gentle encouragement.
    • Marty is very hesitant to bring Jack on board, stating that Jack's specialty is naval intelligence, not terrorism, and also states that Jack is way too close to this case to work it with the level head he needs to do it properly. Once it's clear that Jack is going to be working for him anyways, he acts as a Devil's Advocate, pointing out possible flaws in Jack's theories and forcing him to consider them to strengthen his arguments.
  • Red Herring: When Jack suggests to Marty Cantor about changing the time when the spy satellite will pass over the suspected ULA camp (Jack's guess is that they are aware of when the satellite will pass over and get under cover; changing the time will catch them unawares), there is a dramatic zoom on Marty, as if to suggest that he will be against it because he's a mole for the terrorist cell. In truth, he's only against it because of the cost to do so.
  • Renegade Splinter Faction: 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 before 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.
    Jack Ryan: Listen! Who are we looking for here, huh? IRA terrorists or some ultra-violent faction of the IRA, fighting the cause their way?
  • Revenge Before Reason: Sean Miller's Fatal Flaw. He craves revenge for his brother well beyond anything else, and ends up tearing his own organization and their mission down in his efforts to get at Jack and his family.
  • Revenge by Proxy: Sean Miller targets not just Jack, but his wife and daughter too.
  • Revenge Myopia: Sean Miller wants to kill Jack because he killed his brother Patrick, but it occurred during their kidnapping attempt against Lord Holmes. Of course, from Miller's perspective, their mission against Holmes was justified, and Ryan was an unwanted interloper.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After being exposed as The Mole on Lord Holmes's staff, Geoffrey Watkins is left in the Ryans' cellar as they make their escape. Believing himself safe, he starts to poke his head up, only to get mowed down as Miller and the other terrorists come storming through the door.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jack Ryan kills Sean Miller's brother, and Miller's obsession with revenge is what drives the plot of the film.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Miller's murder of a defenseless Highland shows how ruthless he really is.
  • Sanity Slippage: Miller starts out as a calm, collected professional. After Ryan kills his brother, Miller starts out seemingly calm but taking every possible chance to lash out at Ryan. By the end of the film, Miller kills his own colleagues and becomes little more than a snarling, rage-fueled animal.
  • Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: Both on the poster (with Jack Ryan), and in the film itself, in the scene where Sean Miller executes Dennis Cooley with an automatic at point-blank range.
  • Shotguns Are Just Better: As soon as she realizes what is going on, Kathy ushers their daughter into a bedroom closet and retrieves a shotgun. Unfortunately, she can't find the shells, so when Annette comes looking for them, Kathy gives her its butt to the face.
  • Shout-Out: O'Donnell is watching Harry's Game while waiting for his assassin, a miniseries about a British Army officer undercover in the IRA. The main score can be heard in the background during the scene.
  • Spy Satellites: The film features a scene where Ryan watches a live satellite feed of a British SAS team attacking the terrorist camp. Unbeknownst to him, Sean Miller is not at the camp.
  • Taking a Third Option: Paddy O'Neil doesn't really care what O'Donnel's group does, and very publicly declared he'd rather die than betray the Irish; however, Ryan gives him a credible threat to the IRA's funding in America. Solution: betray somebody English.
  • The Unreveal: During the epilogue, the Ryans are on the phone with their doctor, discussing whether they want to know if the baby will be a boy or a girl.
    Kathy: OK, Tell us... thank you!
    (Kathy grins at Jack, Jack nods at her waiting for an answer)
    -Beat-
    Credits Roll.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: At the end, Miller is killed when he is impaled on a boat anchor by Ryan, followed by him getting blown up to pieces as the boat Ryan and Miller are fighting on crashes into large rocks in a massive fiery explosion.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Annette and Ned Clark prepare to carry out what is clearly a very well planned out assassination of Ryan. Somehow, it never occurred to them that they would be doing this on the grounds of a military academy, with armed guards patrolling at all times. Even had they been successful they would likely have been shot within seconds—which is precisely the fate that befalls Clark.
    • Annette holds Miller at gunpoint after he's murdered O'Donnell but is too slow to fire.
    • Dennis Cooley was clearly way out of his depth considering the people he'd sworn loyalty to. He pays the ultimate price for it in the end.
    • Jimmy for telling Kevin O'Donnell that he intended to send a few of his men over to smooth things over after the failed attack on Holmes, right before a night of sex with the disguised Annette, who O'Donnell gestures to. Considering the friction between the two men over their preferred tactics, he should've kept his guard up in case O'Donnell tried anything extreme, and pays dearly for his lackluster precautions.
  • Tranquil Fury: When Ryan gazes upon his daughter in the hospital bed, fighting for her life. Complete with Manly Tears.
  • Useless Spleen: Averted. Jack Ryan's daughter loses her spleen after an attack by the terrorists, and later Miller, while taunting Ryan, makes a point of mentioning how she'll be disadvantaged. note 
  • Villain Has a Point: All other considerations aside, Jack did kill Sean's brother, which is a pretty solid reason to want his head.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Weaponized by Ryan - the IRA bag-man refuses to sell out any member of the IRA who was involved in the attack on Ryan's wife and daughter and instead tried to distance the IRA from the attack, so Ryan threatens to bring the press into his daughter's hospital room and squarely blame the IRA for the attack, heavily damaging the group's reputation among Irish Americans who are sympathetic to the IRA, and provide them with funds.
  • War Is Hell: During the camp attack scene, the CIA personnel watch the battle on a live satellite video feed. Jack watches as some of the CIA personnel callously comment on the battle as if they were watching a football game. As the battle draws to an end, Jack dwells on the infra-red image of a wounded defender crawling slowly away as the British soldiers make their withdrawal.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Sean Miller. In fact, he seems to take a perverse pride in it.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: "Sorry, Dennis" is all Dennis Cooley gets before Miller executes him.
  • You're Insane!: Annette delivers this to Miller when he murders O'Donnell in a blind rage for attempting to stop his pursuit of Ryan, right before he shoots her too.
    Annette: (Points her gun) You crazy bastard! (Miller kills her)

"You get him, Jack. I don't care what you have to do. Just get him!"

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