John Rambo and Jack Ryan: Men America Can Count On? :: essays research papers

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 â€Å"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.