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John Rambo and Jack Ryan are two amazing men. They are honest, trustworthy,
heroic, never crack under pressure, and stand for truth, justice, and the
American way. Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford do their best attempting to
make the audience believe that men such as Rambo and Ryan actually exist. Try
as they might, not even Stallone or Ford can convince me that men of this
caliber actually live. Rambo is able to not only foil his corrupt, superior
American officer trying to sabotage his mission, but eliminate an entire army
of Vietnamese and Russian soldiers, and save a handful of POWs. Jack Ryan
defies the entire government and the largest Colombian drug cartel because he
stands for the “truth.” Sorry, but I am not buying it.
An interesting aspect of the two films, Rambo / First Blood Part II (George P.
Cosmatos, 1985) and Clear and Present Danger (Phillip Noyce, 1994) is the
differences the two men display, despite the fact that what they represent is
extremely similar. John Rambo is more of a renegade, a decorated soldier of the
Vietnam "conflict," with only his mentor Colonel Trautman at his
side. He was jailed for blowing up a small town in Oregon (a detail from the
first film). The mindless, fickle public would then overlook all of the great
things he did in the war because he blew up an "innocent town." On
the other hand, Jack Ryan is an important member of the CIA, a very noble
position to hold. It is also revealed in the film that Jack Ryan is a very
noble man, not violent unless absolutely forced to be. Little could change
society's view of him. Within their own films, Rambo and Jack Ryan are the only
men capable of "saving" America from the evils that plague it. The
difference is that Rambo is looked at as a violent killing machine, whereas
Jack Ryan is seen as a man who will do only what is necessary to "do the
right thing."
In a simple plot comparison, Danger seems much more in-depth and intelligent
than Rambo. Rambo is sent to get pictures of POW’s, and must not engage the
enemy in combat. Jack Ryan has to uncover the scandal, and the twists and turns
that are ahead, with many characters being introduced over many locations.
However, upon closer inspection, it appears that Danger is only hiding under a
lot of technical jargon and piles upon piles of details. Rambo is short and to
the point: there is one good man who can clean up the messes that America
makes. Danger presents the same message, but wants to appear as a more serious,
smart film. Danger is able to succeed in this respect, because Harrison Ford
sounds much more intelligent than Sylvester Stallone. The key word, however, is
“appears,” because that is all that Danger accomplishes, to “appear” as more
intelligent than films such as Rambo. Upon closer inspection, it is revealed
that Clear and Present Danger is no more than a Rambo for the 90’s.
Despite their differences, Rambo / First Blood Part II and Clear and Present
Danger possess several similar themes. Neither Rambo nor Jack Ryan trusts their
superiors, for good reasons. Rambo discovers that the man who sent him on his
POW recovery mission, Murdock, never wanted the mission to succeed, and goes to
great lengths to prevent that from occurring. Jack Ryan is appointed CIA Deputy
Director of Intelligence, and soon discovers a massive scandal that even goes
above the President. As a side note, if Jack Ryan’s enemies were able to
arrange such an enormous cover-up involving the Colombian drug cartels,
shouldn’t they be able to stop a man like Jack Ryan from becoming the Deputy
Director of Intelligence for the CIA.
The essential similarity in both of these films is the emotion the director
wants to get out of the audience: empowerment. Phillip Noyce and George P.
Cosmatos attempt to push the audience into believing that there are Rambos and Jack
Ryans out there who could save us all from the evils of the world. This notion
is supposed to make us feel that everything is all right, corruption will be
stopped, and good will triumph over evil. Apparently the directors want the
audience to feel “empowered” by these super-men who are able to save the free
world without breaking a sweat. I can not figure out why this would make anyone
feel empowered. If I produced any emotion during either of these films, it was
a feeling of self-worthlessness. Honestly, how could a rather short, cowardly
guy like myself, compare to someone like John Rambo or Jack Ryan? They make me
and every other average American look like a total schmuck because they have
accomplished much more than I ever will in my lifetime. I do not feel empowered
by that, I feel rather bitter. They are stronger, smarter, better looking, and
more females will fawn over them instead of me. In fact, I don’t feel empowered
at all; I hate men like John Rambo and Jack Ryan!
George P. Cosmatos and Phillip Noyce try very hard to make the audience feel
that everything within the cozy borders of the United States is all right. They
also try to fool the audience into believing that any one of them could become
a Rambo or Jack Ryan, thereby inflating the audience's egos, making them think
that they could destroy the entire corrupt system. Unfortunately, they fail,
terribly. I would suggest to these two men to take lessons on how to empower an
audience from Zack de la Rocha, lead singer of the Los Angeles based metal
band, Rage Against the Machine. Rage's anti-government lyrics and innovative
guitar riffs inspire empowerment that few films have come close to matching.
Zack de la Rocha writes very intelligent material, which is far from the
clichéd repetitiveness of Rambo or Clear and Present Danger.
Both Rambo / First Blood Part II and Clear and Present Danger were immensely
popular with audiences, grossing millions and millions of dollars. Americans
seemed to buy into what directors George P. Cosmatos and Phillip Noyce were
trying to do: show us at there is indeed "one good man," and instill
a sense of empowerment among the American population. On the surface, both
films do an excellent job of doing that; yet a majority of filmgoers do not
bother to look beneath the surface. But to look beneath the surface of both
Rambo / First Blood Part II and Clear and Present Danger will reveal a pathetic
attempt at patriotism, empowerment, and hope that our corrupt government can
indeed by stopped.