The Sum of All Fears (2002)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Phil Alden Robinson

Writers (WGA):

Tom Clancy (novel)
Paul Attanasio (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

31 May 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

27,000 Nuclear Weapons. One Is Missing.

Plot:

CIA analyst Jack Ryan must thwart the plans of a terrorist faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's newly elected president by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore.

Plot Keywords:

CIA | Russia | Jack Ryan | Nuclear Bomb | Terrorist

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Ben Affleck	...	Jack Ryan
Morgan Freeman	...	DCI William Cabot
James Cromwell	...	President Robert 'Bob' Fowler
Ken Jenkins	...	Admiral Pollack
Liev Schreiber	...	John Clark
Bruce McGill	...	National Security Advisor Gene Revell
John Beasley	...	General Lasseter
Russell Bobbitt	...	Israeli Pilot
Philip Baker Hall	...	Defense Secretary David Becker
Al Vandecruys	...	US STRATCOM Colonel
Richard Cohee	...	Mt. Weather General
Philip Pretten	...	President's Military Aide
Alison Darcy	...	Fowler's Aide
Richard Marner	...	President Zorkin
Ostap Soroka	...	Zorkin's Translator

Also Known As:

Der Anschlag (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, disaster images and brief strong language.

Runtime:

124 min | Spain:128 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Russian | Ukrainian | German | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Austria:12 (Steiermark) | Austria:16 | Brazil:12 | Canada:14A (DVD rating) | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38988)

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Real U. S. Marines along with two Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters were used for the sequence of rescuing Fowler from the wrecked motorcade. The mission conducted by the Marines in this scene is what to expect when executing a TRAP (Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and/or Personnel). TRAP missions are most likely to be assigned to a Marine Expeditionary Unit. All Phil Alden Robinson had to do was point at the overturned limo and say "The President is in that car!"

Goofs:

Continuity: When we first see the email Mason is reading at the harbor, it reads Monday November 19th, 2001, in the close-up it changes to 2002.

Quotes:

[en route to Russia]
Cabot: Jack... Jack, what are you doing?
Jack: Oh... I had a date tonight, so I had to call and cancel...
Cabot: Well, don't be stupid! Tell her where you're going. In fact, tell her who you work for. She'll be impressed.
Jack: [to Cathy, over the phone] OK. I work for the CIA, and the Director asked me at the last minute to come with him to Russia with him to do a nuclear arms inspection. Hello?
Cathy: That is so lame.
Jack: No, I swear, it's because of the START treaty, we get to inspect to make sure they're really decommissioning their nuclear arsenal...
[Cathy hangs up]
Jack: Hello... hello?
[Cabot starts laughing]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cycle of Aggression (2005)

Soundtrack:

Romance: Io la vidi e al suo sorriso

Well Made Thriller

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, all-round polymath who usually 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 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 to play the role.