Clear and Present Danger (Special Collector’s Edition) (1994)

· Starring: Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, Willem Dafoe, James Earl Jones, Thora Birch, Benjamin Bratt, Miguel Sandoval

· Directed by: Phillip Noyce

· Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment

· Video: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

· Audio: English DTS 5.1, English DD 5.1, French DD 2.0 Surround

· Subtitles: English, Spanish, and English Closed Captions

· Extras: “Behind the Danger” featurette with new cast and crew interviews, theatrical trailer, scene selection

· Length: 141 minutes

· Rating: ****

· Available separately or as part of the Jack Ryan Special Edition DVD Collection

Back in the employ of the CIA, analyst Jack Ryan takes over as acting Deputy Director of Intelligence when his good friend, Admiral Greer, is stricken with a terminable disease. Ryan’s first assignment in his new position is to investigate the murder of a wealthy U.S. businessman who also happens to be a friend of the President. After it is determined that this businessman was murdered because of his ties to the Colombian drug trade, top-ranking government officials respond by ordering an elite group of soldiers into Colombia. The soldiers’ secret mission there is to hinder the business operations of the drug lords. Ryan, however, is unaware of the clandestine mission and when things suddenly go awry, the soldiers are left stranded and under attack. Ryan risks his life and career to rescue the soldiers and expose the corruption reaching into the highest levels of the U.S. government.

The video quality of this DVD is very good. Images are clean with nice detail. Black levels are dark throughout the film. Colors are warm and rich with saturated hues. Picture defect mastering is solid with no major flaws or digital compression artifacts. The overall audio quality is excellent with the English DTS 5.1 track serving as the basis for this review. (Note: This is one of the first three DVDs from Paramount to include DTS as an audio option). The soundtrack’s mix actively uses all of the discrete channels. Dialogue is always intelligible and properly anchored in the center channel. The surround channels are moderately active, utilized for both music and ambient sounds, and also incorporate several split rear effects. The low frequency effects channel shines on many occasions by putting forth booming, powerful bass. Present in about one-half of the DVD’s chapters, tactile effects are present in the form of light to heavy impacts that originate from both the sound effects and the music score.

Reference equipment used for this review: [Video projector- Studio Experience Cinema 17SF; Projection screen- Da-Lite 106” Da-Snap; DVD player- Pioneer Elite DV-37; A/V Receiver- Sherwood Newcastle R-963T; Speakers- BIC DV62si mains, DV62CLRs center, Adatto DV52si rears, D1210R subwoofer; Tactile Transducers- Clark Synthesis Gold; Video Switcher- Key Digital SW4x1; Cables/Wires- Bettercables.com]