On a lighter note, Morgan Freeman is his excellent self. Maybe they should have cast him to portray Ryan.


No big deal, sadly!   October 3, 2002
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

This movie seems to evoke two totally different responses. Either it's the biggest waste of celluloid since Battlefield Earth, or the best movie of the year! The dichotomy of the reviews is very amusing.

Fact of the matter is that this is just not a very memorable movie! The hatred from Clancy fans is understandable, and well deserved, but not everyone has read the books. Yet we still enjoy the Jack Ryan movies (up to this point, anyway!) I'd like to focus the rest of this review away from the obvious desecration of the original novel, and onto the movie itself, as is.

Ben Affleck is just OK as Ryan. No more, no less! There's nothing in his performance that really stands out as either being good, or bad! Hell, even Alec Baldwin was a better Jack Ryan. At least there are moments of Baldwin's performance that you remember. This may have more to do with an average at best script, than with Affleck himself.

Morgan Freeman is, as always, thoroughly enjoyable as his boss. He provides the best moments of the movie, especially the scene on the plane to Russia where he tells Ryan to phone his girlfriend to tell her that he's on a CIA mission. The scene at the subcommittee hearing is also funny.

My biggest peeves had to do with the villains, and the scenes after the explosion.

The fact that the villains were changed from Islamic terrorists to Nazi sympathizers took away any possible believability, and made the movie more cartoonish. I understand that the movie was all set to be released when the attacks on 9/11 occurred, and that they felt that the timing was wrong. The delay of the release, in and of itself wasn't a problem, but worrying about being "sensitive" to Muslims, and changing the villains, completely loses the tension that could (and should) have been created. If PC sensitivity was what they were striving for, then they could have added a scene or two showing the supposed dichotomy between the extremists, and the rest of the Muslim world. This would have added some needed depth to the plot, and would have kept the movie from losing money in the foreign markets, while retaining the more credible villains. But, this is Hollywood, and they can't have big budget films actually give us depth of plot, or character, or realism can they? You wonder, if the WTC had been hit by a bunch of white supremicists, or Nazi sympathizers, or Timothy McVeigh's, would Hollywood worried about offending peace loving, good and decent whites? I think Hollywood's track record, as of late, speaks for itself!

The movie itself leaves you with the feeling of "been there, done that"! Still, there's nothing really to hate as an action/spy movie fan. It's not a Vin Diesel movie, and you certainly can find tons of movies far worse. The Bourne Identity was far more interesting, and clever (and not quite with the big budget!)

If you remove all preconceptions about this movie, and just watch it as a movie lover, you'll be mildly entertained. This is a rather disposable film, but disposable doesn't always mean bad. I agree with everyone else though that the scenes after the bomb explosion were very cheesy! It's amazing how Affleck just happens to always be upwind of the radiation! Hmmmm!!

I'd definitely suggest renting this first before buying it, if you haven't seen it yet. I myself will buy this to add to the collection I already own, and will pop it in the DVD player for an occasional night of mindless movie watching. If you've never seen the previous Jack Ryan movies, you'll probably wonder what the hell is all the fuss about, after you see it. For Tom Clancy's sake, he'd better be glad that this wasn't the 1st release in the series, or it would probably be the last! Get the 3 previous Jack Ryan movies before getting this one.

Finally, while Affleck is OK, and might be better in a future movie, I'd like to suggest that Hollywood try to return the franchise back to the timeline of the book series. In other words, go forward in the series from CAPD, and get an "older" actor other than Affleck. I would suggest George Clooney, but he's a little too smug in his on screen persona to be Jack Ryan. Harrison would be good for the movie in which Ryan becomes president, but for the other books we need someone else not quite so old looking. I don't really have any good suggestions. I'd like to hear from Clancy fans as to who they think would be a better Jack Ryan. Kurt Russell perhaps? Just not John Travolta!


I miss Harry - and good writing   September 23, 2002
 3 out of 7 found this review helpful

Amazingly, "The Sum Of All Fears" takes a sure-fire premise and turns it into one of the dullest films of the year. Amid all the concern over whether Affleck could effectively replace Ford and renew this tiring franchise, the producers seem to have forgotten that the best pick-me-up would have been a decent screenplay. This one's awful. We know from the outset precisely where it's heading, and when it gets there - after an interminable hour of tedious preamble - it's a virtual non-event: the nuclear explosion which flattens Baltimore is realized with about as much visual flair as a White House press conference. Worse, the events it initiates rapidly mushroom into ludicrousness thanks to ham-fisted, telemovie plotting. Interest is quickly lost. The direction is patchy, Goldsmith's music is typically dire, and the performances are lukewarm at best. Apart from the nicely put together denouement montage, it's pretty standard fare. And Affleck? Sure, he's a nice kid, but there's no getting around it: brooding looks and boyish charm are no match for the paternal, patriotic gravitas of Ford. Spectacularly average.


Decent movie   September 21, 2002
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. Morgan Freeman is always good, and Ben Affleck does a nice job as the young CIA analyst. The two picks for the American and Russian president are right-on--Ciaran Hinds as the Russian president is really excellent, as is James Cromwell as his American counterpart. And the guy who plays the CIA operative is good, too (unfortunately I don't know the actor's name). But anyway, he's a pretty cool cat in this movie, and just what you'd expect of an experienced field agent.

Also, the scene in which Affleck tells his fiance that he can't make their date because Morgan Freeman, the head of the CIA, wanted Affleck to jump on a plane to Russia with him is nicely done. It's short but provides perhaps the only moment of comic relief in the entire movie.

The scene where the fission bomb goes off has some realistic looking effects, too. Overall, I'd say this is a pretty good movie. Big Steve says go see it and don't Bogart the popcorn.