The Sum of All Fears (2002) Paramount/Action-Adventure RT: 124 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, violence, disturbing images, sexual content) Director: Phil Alden Robinson Screenplay: Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: John Lindley Release date: May 31, 2002 (US) Cast: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, James Cromwell, Liev Schreiber, Bruce McGill, John Beasley, Bridget Moynahan, Ciaran Hinds, Philip Baker Hall, Colm Feore, Alan Bates, Josef Sommer, Ron Rifkin. Box Office: $118.9M (US)/$194M (World)
Rating: ***
The Sum of All Fears is a rebooting of the popular franchise, a prequel to the other movies featuring a young Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst who would go on to have many adventures outside the safe confines of his office. Because we’re talking about a young guy at the start of his career, Harrison Ford is no longer eligible to play him. A younger actor is needed. So who do they get? Ben Affleck, that’s who. My guess is he jumped at the chance to play a spy after he heard best bud Matt Damon signed on to play the titular character in The Bourne Identity. I don’t know that for certain, but it’s a sound theory. Either way, Affleck is no substitute for Ford or even Alec Baldwin.
On the upside, the rest of The Sum of All Fears is pretty good. The story opens in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War. An Israeli jet carrying a nuclear bomb is shot down over the Syrian desert. The bomb gets buried in the sand over time. About 30 years later, it’s found by a scrap metal collector who sells it to arms dealer Olsen (Feore, The Chronicles of Riddick). He, in turn, sells to Dressler (Bates, King of Hearts), an Austrian neo-Nazi who wants to start WWIII.
Meanwhile at CIA headquarters, Jack is invited by director William Cabot (Freeman, Million Dollar Baby) to accompany him to Russia to meet the new president Nemerov (Hinds, The Woman in Black) who’s known to be a hard-liner when it comes to the control of the military. He seems to be an okay guy, but Jack notices three scientists aren’t present at the nuclear weapons facility they’re there to examine as part of an agreement between their two countries. Excuses are given, but something is clearly up.
John Clark (Schreiber, Scream 1-3), a secret CIA operative, finds out the missing scientists are in the Ukraine building the nuclear bomb Dressler plans to detonate on US soil, the city of Baltimore to be exact. Most other action movies would have their hero racing around to locate the bomb and stop it from going off, saving thousands of lives in the process. In The Sum of All Fears, the bomb actually goes off in a packed stadium during a football game at which Cabot and US President Fowler (Cromwell, Babe) are present. It’s Black Sunday without the happy ending.
Because it’s been made to look like the Russians did it, Fowler and his advisors (safely aboard Air Force One) seriously discuss going to war. On the ground, Jack uncovers what’s really going on. He needs to get the new information into the right hands in order to avert a devastating war between the two superpowers.
Directed by Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams), The Sum of All Fears plays just like a 70s political disaster thriller with state of the art special effects. Adapted from the Tom Clancy best seller, it couldn’t have come along at a better time, less than a year after 9/11. With the events of that terrible day still fresh in the minds of many Americans, the scenario it depicts feels all too real. It works as an action movie too with a hero working overtime to keep a bad situation from getting worse. My only real problem with the film is the guy playing the hero. In my not at all humble opinion, Affleck is one of the most overrated actors in Hollywood. Actually, he’s one of the worst. I mean, have you seen Pearl Harbor? Come on! He’s the last one who should play Jack Ryan. Maybe they should have gotten his Pearl Harbor co-star Josh Hartnett. He couldn’t be worse than Ben.
Freeman is always good, no matter how bad the movie is. He does his usual great job as Ryan’s boss/first mentor. Bates, in one of his last film roles, makes a frightening villain. Here’s a man who considers Hitler stupid not crazy in his attempt to fight two superpowers (the US and Russia) simultaneously instead of getting them to destroy each other. Bridget Moynahan (Coyote Ugly) plays Jack’s girlfriend/future wife Cathy. She’s on hand to be annoyed when he keeps having to cut their dates short due to work (she doesn’t know he’s with the CIA, of course) and worried when he runs off to save the world.
The Sum of All Fears benefits from a stellar supporting cast that also includes Philip Baker Hall (Boogie Nights), Bruce McGill (The Last Boy Scout), Ron Rifkin (L.A. Confidential) and Josef Sommer (Witness). It tells a good story, but I could not for the life of me reconcile it with The Hunt for Red October which was supposedly about Ryan’s first time in the field. What gives?
In the end, The Sum of All Fears works as a solid action movie and intelligent political thriller. It’s fascinating to watch all the behind-the-scenes stuff with the deteriorating relations between the two countries and their leaders. It’s not my favorite Jack Ryan movie, but it’s not the worst either. It’s good not great. I wouldn’t mind seeing future adaptation of Clancy’s remaining novels, but without Ben Affleck. Seriously guys, give Hartnett a call.
