Clear And Present Danger DVD Review

Being the most recent of the three Ryan films to be re-released on DVD, the transfer here is very good indeed. The image appears sharp and defined with plenty of fine detail on show and strong blacks. Colours are well saturated and strong where needed with flesh tones look very natural. There are also no signs of bleeding or blooming in the image, whites are crisp and contrast is good. There are no signs of digital artefacts or compression and the print is clean with no signs of grain or dirt. Only occasionally are there signs of any edge enhancement or a softness to wide shots, and overall this is a very good quality transfer.

Again Paramount gives us the choice of both Dolby Digital and dts 5.1 sound mixes and both are very good indeed. Switching between the two options during the rocket attack on the drugs cartel gives a good example of the differences. On the Dolby track the sound of the missile approaching is there, but very subdued and not very accurate as it jumps from the rear to the front sound field. On the dts track you can actually hear the missile in all its glory and pin point its position as it moves over the right hand side of the rear soundfield and then naturally pans onto screen. Other differences are a more clear and dynamic handling of the score on the dts track, with an overall tighter and better focused bottom end. The Dolby Digital track is not completely redundant and is highly enveloping in its own right but the differences are there between the two, and my opinion favours the dts track on this occasion.

Again we get a Paramount Special Collectors edition, which consist of a 25min retrospective Documentary and a trailer. The documentary is an insightful look behind the scenes with interviews and footage, and the trailer is Anamorphic and 5.1
The third instalment of the Jack Ryan exploits arrives with a fine transfer and excellent sound, but again the extras let it down a little.