‘Patriot Games’

Although in some ways as capable as its ex-Marine/ex-CIA hero (played by Harrison Ford, pictured), this 1992 release could use more of this gentleman’s moxie. The second of techno-master Tom Clancy’s novels to be filmed, it’s a perfectly adequate action-thriller that neither disappoints nor exhilarates. If it doesn’t exactly crackle with energy, it lets off a good buzz now and again. Now a Naval Academy instructor, Ford’s John Patrick Ryan, while in London to give a speech and enjoy a family vacation, almost literally stumbles on an attempt by Irish terrorists to assassinate a cousin of the queen (Ryan was played by Alec Bladwin in “The Hunter for Red October.”) Cinemax Friday at 2:45 a.m.).