Koeferl- Patriot Games Families

Families play a very important part in "Patriot Games". Every character in the movie is part of at least one kind of family, and every one of the characters' actions are made with their families in mind. Jack Ryan attacks the terrorists in the beginning of the movie because they posed a danger to his own family, as well as to innocent civilians and the royal family they were targeting. Although Ryan cares about his family very much and puts their safety above his own (as he puts himself in very dangerous situations), he is a reckless character. His instincts as a former CIA agent compelled him to attack the terrorists, which incidentally is the action that puts his family in danger. To his credit, after he found out that Miller escaped, he moved his family to a reasonably far away location that made him inconvenient to pursue. So, to stretch this concept of family importance a little, Ryan instinctively acted according to his allegiance to his former CIA family, and he later acted to protect his biological family.

Sean Miller is an interesting character; he is part of a terrorist organization as well as a biological family. When his brother is killed by Ryan, he feels a duty to avenge him. In the end of the movie, he puts this revenge above his organization's original mission to kill the royal family and even kills his comrades to attempt to pay Ryan back. He obviously valued the memory of his brother (nuclear family) over the lives of his assassin buddies. Miller wasn't the first in his terrorist organization to murder its members, however. Several people who were working with them were killed by its leaders for some reason or another. The terrorists as a family differ from the CIA because they don't hesitate to murder their own members. Sean Miller tries ceaselessly to cause harm to Jack Ryan and his family for revenge, while Ryan tries with all his might to protect them.