The Harrison Ford Thrillers You Need To Watch After Captain America: Brave New World

As was evident from the first rumblings that he'd appear in the movie, the casting of Harrison Ford in Marvel Studios' "Captain America: Brave New World" is a savvy choice. For one thing, Ford makes for a darn decent replacement for the late William Hurt, who was the original actor to portray General-turned-Secretary Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross beginning in 2008's "The Incredible Hulk" and continuing through 2021's "Black Widow." Ford has the necessary gravitas, gruffness, temper, and fortitude to take on the role of a wartime general who becomes embroiled in the politics of a world increasingly beset by massive threats, both domestic and international. Really, the only element missing is Ross' signature mustache, perhaps nixed at Ford's request.

Of course, there's another reason why Ford's appearance in the movie is so apt, and that's because in "Brave New World," Ross has recently been elected as the President of the United States. Ford is a cinema icon numerous times over, well known for his forays into sci-fi/fantasy with "Star Wars" and action/adventure with the "Indiana Jones" series. Past those two juggernauts is a third franchise that Ford became synonymous with for a brief time: the big screen adaptations of author Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger." He's also played the Commander-in-Chief before, too, in 1997's "Air Force One." It's these roles in particular which most inform Ford's work in "Brave New World," so here's why you'll want to watch them after (or even instead of) seeing the new "Captain America" installment.

After the first major Clancy/Ryan adaptation, 1990's "The Hunt For Red October," producer Mace Neufeld decided to go in a different direction with the follow-up after original Jack Ryan actor Alec Baldwin committed to a Broadway play during a period when the film was in an extended development delay. Choosing to age up Ryan and revisit the former CIA analyst at a later point in his career, Harrison Ford was subsequently cast as Ryan in this adaptation of Clancy's 1987 novel of the same name. In "Patriot Games," the now more mature Ryan happens to be in London with his wife and daughter when he witnesses (and helps foil) a kidnapping attempt by members of a radical IRA splinter group. One of the members of that group, Sean Miller (Sean Bean), takes particular umbrage with Ryan's intervention, leading him to enact a side campaign to hurt Ryan any way he can.

In addition to Ford in Papa Bear mode, "Patriot Games" showcases the actor's panache and world-weariness as the character, especially as Ryan slowly realizes just how much the intelligence and surveillance game has changed in the time he's been a part of it. Director Philip Noyce stages a quietly chilling scene in which Ryan, along with a knowingly wary Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones), observes an SAS attack on a terrorist training camp, watching death and destruction occur thousands of miles away via satellite. It's a defining moment for the film, the character, and Ford's integrity as an actor, a quality that crops up in "Brave New World" as Ross struggles to maintain control over a political situation which is turning more violent by the minute.

After the success of "Patriot Games," Ford returned to play Jack Ryan again in 1994's "Clear and Present Danger," making him the only actor to play Ryan more than once on the big screen to date. This time around, Ryan has been promoted (not unlike Ross) to a position of authority, gaining the title of CIA Acting Deputy Director after Greer is stricken with pancreatic cancer. After an incident which leads Ryan to discover that an American businessman was laundering money for a South American drug cartel, Ryan digs deeper and finds that there may be an entire covert war happening in Colombia, an operation which may have the secret approval of the current President, Edward Bennett (Donald Moffat). The film is a bit more of a classic '90s action movie then "Patriot Games" had been, but it's also a very rousing, heart-on-its-sleeve drama; it's sort of John McTiernan by way of Frank Capra, which makes it that much more impressive that Noyce returned after "Patriot Games" to direct it.

If you're a fan of how President Ross gets caught up within the machinations of a wide-reaching conspiracy in "Brave New World," then you're bound to enjoy Ford as Jack Ryan fighting against the insidious, bureaucratic, power-hungry people and the systems that enable them in "Clear and Present Danger." While Ross is uncomfortably part victim, part perpetrator in "Captain America," Ryan is portrayed as one of the last decent men in Washington, and there's something so satisfying about seeing Ford summon up all the outrage and incredulity he can muster when facing the people who've let the American people down. Unlike "Brave New World," "Clear and Present Danger" has quite a bit to say about the failings within our own government, and why it's so important to be able to both believe in and openly criticize the people we elect to positions of power.

There's an unspoken cinematic tradition when it comes to depicting the President of the United States. In most cases, the President is an incidental figure, someone for a protagonist to either go against, ask for aid, or try to help. Sometimes a film will lean into topicality and use the identity of a real-life sitting President, other times they'll be a thinly veiled fictional version. It's more rare to see a film where the President is a fully-fledged character all their own outside of a biopic. At least, it used to be fairly rare prior to the mid-'90s, where movies like "The American President" and "Independence Day" saw their fictional Presidents be on the younger side and have a streak of romance and heroism to them (inspired, no doubt, by the relative youth and appeal of Bill Clinton during the first part of the decade).

As part of this trend came Wolfgang Petersen's "Air Force One," which cast Ford as President James Marshall, who is forced into action after a group of terrorists led by Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman) take Air Force One (and Marshall's wife and daughter) hostage. Instead of using an escape pod to eject once the terrorists attack, Marshall chooses to go the John McClane route, hiding onboard the plane and counterattacking when and where he can. This means that "Air Force One" is a (pretty darn good) "Die Hard" riff, with Ford's President shifting into full-fledged hero mode. The film is a rousingly pulpy wish fulfillment action fantasy for Americans — "What if our elected leader was not only honorable, but could personally kick ass?" is a very potent thought exercise — and the apotheosis of Ford's political thriller persona. There's a sort of meta fulfillment going from Jack Ryan shouting down a corrupt President to James Marshall shouting at a terrorist to get off his plane.

Ultimately, so much of the juice squeezed into "Captain America: Brave New World" comes from Ford's indelible appearances and performances in these films. It's a quality "Brave New World" fails to capitalize on, but it's still there beneath the surface, especially given Ross' eventual transformation into the rampaging Red Hulk. No matter their intentions, it's always possible for people in power to abuse their authority if they're not careful, and the meta arc of Ford appearing in political thrillers is a pretty resonant testament to that fact.