The Sum of All Fears

As an average espionage movie, this is a good flick. In fact, if the names involved weren't "Jack Ryan" and Tom Clancy, and if we hadn't actually seen some terrorist disasters in the last eight months, I would've thought it a really well-done intelligence thriller, looking at how Russia and the U.S. might head towards nuclear war if somehow a nuke went off in the U.S. during a time of tension. Affleck and Freeman seemed fine, but I keep on reminding myself supposedly that these are the characters that should have become James Earl Jones and Baldwin.

After September 11, and especially with the Clancy/Ryan films that have already been made, "Sum" just feels wrong. Philip Baker Hall's line about the response from the Russians, "This is canned!" feels like a description of the whole film. How can you blow up Baltimore and still have a happy go-lucky ending? If you are going to, ADMIT that you're just trying to make a fun Friday night flick, and not a TOPICAL IN-DEPTH film about U.S. security, which is kind of what Affleck and Clancy have been claiming they're doing. (Kind of like claiming the ridiculous "Air Force One" was a serious look at how to respond to terrorism on board the president's plane.)

Also, if this was a film about nuclear war, then it should have stuck to that possibility. If it's a film about the hunt for some terrorists planning a nuclear attack, that would be a different story. The way the film neatly wraps up everything in the end (with the exception of the destruction of BALTIMORE) is both silly and pure Hollywood. I'm disappointed, and I hope this is a hiccup in an otherwise intriguing series of well-done espionage films.

First thing that struck me was the casting of Ben Affleck- im not sure why and if this was just me, but i expected him to come out with some punch lines and start cracking jokes at any second- he just didn't fit the role for me personally. Morgan Freeman also didn't seem to have a solid cast in this movie.

The story was fairly captivating however, Cromwell was good to watch as always and Morgan Freeman did his best given the role Overall worth a rent but probably not a buy guys. Catch it on TV if you can and you will be probably entertained for that night.

7/10

Sum of All Fears is an enjoyable thriller and the type of movie the Hollywood studios have always been good at making. It's slick, expensive-looking, well-acted and two hours of far-fetched fun. Ben Affleck plays CIA Agent and superman Jack Ryan PhD. Ryan is a former marine, linguist and all-round polymath who saves the world from impending disaster. Affleck is youthful and convincing as Ryan and makes him seem fallible and likable. Ryan becomes a confidant of the wise and sensible CIA Director Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman) and acquires a beautiful and successful girlfriend (Bridget Moynahan) who believes he's a historian.

The plot is complicated and involves a new Russian leader (Ciaran Hands) who spouts anti-U.S. rhetoric. A Russian chemical attack on Chechnya increases the tension between the two countries. An Israeli atomic bomb is found in the Egyption desert,a relic of the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict. Neo-Nazi terrorists (led by Alan Bates) want to provoke a nuclear conflict between America and Russia. They acquire the bomb from a South African arms dealer and explode it in Baltimore. The U.S. blames the Russians and the two countries are about to commence all-out nuclear war until Ryan works out what is happening and it all ends happily. The message is that the new Russian leaders are reasonable men signifying that the world has moved on from the Commie bashing flicks of the 1980s.

The idea of a terrorist nuclear attack is topical, but unfortunately the Neo-Nazi villains seem very 1970s. The film has good character actors in supporting roles (e.g., Liev Schrieber, James Cromwell). I much prefer Afflek's Ryan to that of the 52 year-old Harrison Ford who by 1994's Clear and Present Danger seemed too old and surly for the role.

I didn't notice who was responsible for casting, but they made a huge mistake in casting Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan. I heard about him inheriting the role from Harrison Ford for some reason, but my first choice would have been to go back to Alec Baldwin, who did an excellent job in the Hunt for Red October. Morgan Freeman, usually brilliant, also seems to be thrown into this movie incorrectly. The story was convincing, but again star power doesn't necessarily translate into great story telling. Let Ben continue to do the romantic comedies and action movies, but leave the strong serial characters to someone who can truly embody the role.

People seem to expect jack Ryan movies to be more or less the way they imagine the books to be. This phenomenon is almost never the case when a movie comes out BASED ON THE BOOK. I emphasis BASED because it is never MEANT to be exactly what the book is. In "Sum Of All Fears", there is a switch from Arab to Fascist terrorists. Sure, some scenes are changed and others, unfortunately, left out. But being that the book is only based on the story, it is NOT GOINT TO BE the story itself. Somethings don't translate well on screen. A book is several hundred pages long. A movie two hours, and they can't very well put every detail from the book into the movie. I saw the film and thought it was good. I also saw all the other Clancy films and enjoyed them for what they were. Maybe not so good by comparison to the book, but never the less good for what they were. As for some characters, for example, Mary Pat Foley would have been unrecognized had it not been for the credits. She is known more for her role as a spy in "Cardinal of the Kremlin", which would make a great movie, if they ever did it.