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Tom Clancy fans, throw your books out the window when you see this film. Previous Jack Ryans Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford can rest easy, their reputations are intact. Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan looks like a high school sophomore.

The premise here is that an Israeli atom bomb lost during a 1971 conflict has been discovered in the desert, sold to a pro-Nazi  terrorist group who smuggle it into the United States. When the impossible does happen, Russia is assumed to be the guilty party and tension escalates until fingers on both sides of the ocean are inches away from the red button. Time for Jack Ryan to come to the rescue with the help of a CIA official (Morgan Freeman). 

James Cromwell makes a fine U. S. President. Even when called by the script to yell at his Cabinet (“Not only did the enemy try to kill this country, but they tried to kill ME, TOO”), he does so with authority. Morgan Freeman plays the kind of government man who operates quietly but always has everything under control. The advocates for and against retaliating against Russia are well acted. Ciarin Hinds as a younger Russian president shows compassion and foresight, while the neo-Nazi villains have blonde hair and blue eyes. Bridget Moynahan is the medical doctor-girlfriend of Ryan and after a tussle in the sack pretty much disappears. Liev Schreiber appears in a fascinatingly short role. 

The Sum of all Fears follows the Clancy pattern of high tech the first half of the film and action the last half. As usual, Ryan reluctantly goes along as a participant rather than an observer and, what else? proves himself worthy. There are certainly flaws in this script. A lost bomb and no one was looking for it for almost 30 years? Some of the special effects look cheesy especially the Stealth planes. Despite a horrible tragedy, the phones still work. In one case, people are wondering where a certain villain is and in the next scene they are already hacking into his computer system. People in danger of assassination never check under cars before starting them. 

Scenes of the “impossible” are devastating and will bring audiences past September 11, 2002 and into the next phase of “What If?” but all in all, the continuation of the Jack Ryan series may reach an impasse here. The script is deadlier than the enemy.

Copyright 2002 Marie Asner
Submitted 4/28/02

The new film featuring Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan is, as its press material asserts, "eerily prescient." The Sum of All Fears imagines what might happen if terrorists actually obtained a nuclear weapon. In this case, it's not Al Qaeda terrorists but neo-fascists hoping to inspire a devastating confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. And it's not FBI agents who don't know how to use a computer but CIA spies with incredibly prophetic powers of deduction who are hot on their trail. Ok, so it's not exactly prescient, but what did you expect from a summer blockbuster?

The plot, like most contemporary spy thrillers criss-crosses the globe: from Russia to America, from Europe to Syria. A secret cabal of wealthy fascists is trying to get its hands on a nuclear device. Why is never exactly clear, so it's best not to think too much about it. When an old unexploded bomb turns up in the Golan Heights (a relic of the Yom Kippur war of '73, we're told, though it feels more like an Indiana Jones movie), a shifty arms dealer scoops it up and sells it to our villains.

Fortunately, CIA director William Cabot (Morgan Freeman) senses something fishy is going on, and he taps the resources of analyst Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) and uber-agent John Clark (Liev Schreiber) to help him. Clark goes undercover to root out the information, and Ryan puts it all together. Despite Ryan's brilliant deductive mind, however, the neo-fascists are always one step of ahead of him, and their small but powerful nuclear device winds up in Baltimore on the night of the Super Bowl. Those wondering when the Super Bowl might ever be played in Baltimore are advised not to see this movie, as this is only the least of many implausibilities the audience is forced to digest.

If you've seen the preview for The Sum of All Fears, you'll know that it features a nuclear explosion. I just assumed it was another example of a trailer giving away the ending, but it's not. Indeed the bomb is just a prelude to a nail-biting crisis, as U.S. President Fowler and his Russian counterpart engage in a catastrophic game of chicken. Meanwhile, Ryan is wandering the streets of Baltimore trying to get critical information to the president to avoid thermonuclear war. In certain ways, the movie is reminiscent of Thirteen Days, which was based on the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. But that movie showed how a government acts during a crisis, while The Sum of All Fears merely uses it as a pretext for tension. It doesn't help that Jerry Goldsmith's music is the height of manipulation.

Fortunately, Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams) directs with a somewhat lighter touch. He eschews most of the CIA jargon Clancy's novels are stocked with, and his Jack Ryan is a decidedly human character, with a sweet smile and a pretty girlfriend. There aren't any big set-pieces, and the special effects are kept to a minimum. For many action fans, these might be drawbacks, but I found the movie much more bearable for their absence. The problem is that the film's political ambitions are decidedly low-key as well, which makes Sum a political action thriller that misses on all three counts.

As always, Morgan Freeman comes out smelling nicer than a springtime cherry blossom. His William Cabot is wise and crafty, forceful but sensitive, and supremely composed. In short, he is the CIA chief/presidential adviser we wish we could invent for these troubled days. At times the hagiography reaches the point of absurdity. While Cabot lies on his deathbed, his first concern is Jack Ryan's girlfriend--"Did she survive? . . . Oh, and before I expire, there's this secret source inside the Kremlin you might want to contact." The amazing thing about Freeman is that he makes even that ridiculous plot contrivance seem believable. Unfortunately for the movie, once Freeman is gone, we don't really care about anyone else.

Ben Affleck must be disappointed with his role. I'm sure that he figured Jack Ryan would embody the hunky, suave action hero with enough wit and brains to both save the world and score with the ladies. Yet, this version of Ryan is strangely flaccid. Once the action heats up, Affleck spends most of his time running--running through fire, running through dark hallways, running for the phone. Indeed it appears that the primary tool for today's CIA operative is a standard-issue cell phone. Where's the excitement in that? The movie goes out of its way to set up a mano-a-mano showdown between Ryan and one of the fascists, but even that's a letdown. Affleck is much more convincing in bed than in combat.

The supporting cast of James Cromwell, Philip Baker Hall, and Ron Rifkin embody the leaders in the time of crisis we expect from this sort of film. They're struggling to do the right thing, but they don't know what that is. And Ciaran Hinds is strong as the thoughtful Russian leader who has to decide whether to pull back from the brink of nuclear destruction. The film unfortunately (but predictably) succumbs to the Hollywood fantasy that all we need are straight-talking leaders and a whole lot of trust, and all our problems can be solved. That makes for a satisfyingly neat conclusion in just two hours, as long as you don't think too hard.  

J. Robert Parks 6/10/2002