The Sum of All Fears

The Sum of All Fears

By

  • Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama
  • Release Date: 2002-05-31
  • Runtime: 124 minutes
  • : 6.3
  • Production Company: Paramount Pictures
  • Production Country: Canada, Germany, United States of America
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6.3/10
6.3
From 1,719 Ratings

Description

When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.

Trailer

Reviews

  • Wuchak

    8
    By Wuchak
    _**The sum of all OUR fears**_ A nuke falls into the hands of a neo-fascist madman who wants to pit America against Russia. Then the unthinkable happens. Based on the Tom Clancy novel, "The Sum of All Fears" (2002) features Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst-turned-operative; Morgan Freeman plays his boss; and James Cromwell is on hand as the president. There are several other notables; even the hulking Sven-Ole Thorsen shows up. I’ve only see one other Clancy movie featuring Jack Ryan and that was “Patriot Games” (1992). While it was a’right, this one’s better; top-of-the-line actually. It’s a realistic globe-trotting political thriller that shows how the world is a tinder box and it’s not going to take much to set it on fire. It’s augmented by some welcome wit & low-key humor. The film runs 2 hours, 4 minutes. The locations are too many to list. GRADE: A-/B+

  • sooner1ksn

    N/A
    By sooner1ksn
    As a movie, it is OK, actually one of Afflec's better efforts. However, apparently the writer of the screenplay read a different book than I did, because "The Sum Of All Fears", the movie, had about 3 things in common with the book: The name, the main characters, and the fact that it involved nuclear weapons. Why change from Denver to Baltimore? The relationships between Ryan and most of the other characters is scrambled up. Neither Afflec nor Harrison Ford got the character of Jack Ryan right (Ryan is NOT an action hero, he is a deep thinker with a giant inferiority complex who still manages to be a hero, because he HAS to). Actually, Baldwin got it closer in Red October. If you haven't read the book, this film is passable, but if you expected to recognize Clancy's story, you will be disappointed.

  • CinemaSerf

    6
    By CinemaSerf
    For once, Morgan Freeman isn't playing the US President in this rather run of the mill, political apocalypse film. He's actually the CIA director "Cabot" who is working with an analyst "Jack Ryan" (Ben Affleck) to try and thwart a cunning plan to detonate a recently stolen nuclear explosive in the United States so he can start an all out war with Russia. The fascists behind the scheme know full well that any such disaster will put the pressure on "Pres. Fowler" (James Cromwell) to counter-attack the newly installed Russian "Pres. Nemerov" (the dreadfully wooden Ciaran Hinds) and that all of their advisors will be suggesting a kill or be killed philosophy. The aftermath of the explosion further complicates matters for "Ryan" as he struggles to get to the truth, and then to get that to the authorities before all hell breaks loose. The story here works well enough but the casting is distinctly under-par. Freeman does as he alway does, as does Cromwell but Affleck is rather out of his depth with his more substantial role. He is just a bit too light-weight - regardless of how many cuts and bruises the make up folks give him - to step into the shoes of Alex Baldwin or even Harrison Ford with this more cerebral character. There are some decent pyrotechnics and for a while at the end there is a decent bit of tension, but it takes far too long to get the pieces together and though still quite a chilling assessment of just how destructive military might can be, it's just all a bit wordy and flat.

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