Sum Of All Fears, The (2002)

2 out of 4

Stars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Bridget Moynahan, Ciaran Hinds

Director: Phil Alden Robinson

Time: 127 mins

The Jack Ryan series of books and movies have been a successful franchise over the last ten to fifteen years. From being a CIA agent to the President of the United States itself, Tom Clancy's hero has been a likable if somewhat larger-than-life character. After Alec Baldwin delivered a low key Ryan in The Hunt For Red October, Harrison Ford made the part his own in Patriot Games and 1994's Clear And Present Danger. Now, following an eight year break, and with Ford opting not to continue his adventures as Ryan, Ben Affleck steps into the role. While some may have had reservations about Affleck being an action hero, he actually fares quite well. It's the script that needs a bit of work. Well, actually, a lot of work.

One of the many questions fans may have had is how could the much younger Affleck fit into the almost sixty-year-old Ford's shoes. The screenplay (by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne) plays with the Ryan chronology by placing him at the start of his career. Ryan is a CIA desk jockey, and still dating future wife Dr Cathy Muller (Bridget Moynahan). When William Cabot (Morgan Freeman), a close confidante of the President (James Cromwell), is asked to go to Russia to inspect a nuclear weapons factory, Ryan is brought along because of his detailed knowledge of the new Russian leader, Nemerov (Ciaran Hinds). Ryan notices three Russian scientists are missing, and he soon suspects that a renegade group of neo Nazis are planning to build a nuclear bomb and detonate it on American soil. The race is on to find out who, what, where and why, before the US and Russia start a cataclysmic nuclear exchange.

The first half of the movie is a very slow introduction to the characters and the politics, leavened by some humour revolving around Ryan's youthful naivete. The second half, though, is prefaced by a frightening explosion that, even some nine months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, is unsettling and all too realistic. A nuclear attack on American soil prior to last year's events would have been typical Hollywood fantasy; now, it seems all too prescient and close to home. Though some may deem the story exploitative, the truth is that The Sum Of All Fears was written eleven years ago, and the movie itself had begun filming early last year. The special effects for the explosion are very well done, without the need to show a lot of devastating carnage. Still, having lived through the September 11 horror in New York, it's eerie to hear terms like Ground Zero being bandied about quite freely.

The pace really picks up soon after the explosion, as the US and Russia play a game of cat and mouse, and try to determine who is less able to withstand the pressure. There is a lot of mobilising of the military, and even an attack on an aircraft carrier, but the film is more about tension than the usual bombastic action setpieces that one might have expected. While fairly suspenseful, the resolution to all this is a bit of a letdown, and undoes some of the excellent work director Robinson (Sneakers) has built up in the preceding hour.

Affleck is an affable Ryan. He may not yet have the charisma or action man persona that someone like Ford can slip into with the greatest of ease, but I can see him growing into the role if more Ryan novels are filmed. Morgan Freeman is his usual dignified self as Ryan's mentor, though he doesn't much have to do after the explosion midway through the film. James Cromwell, who can be cold and calculating (as in L.A. Confidential) or warm and sunny (Babe), conveys the necessary steel and doubt that besets the president, and the mysterious Liev Schreiber is appropriately aloof as operative John Clark (a part played in Clear And Present Danger by Willem Dafoe). Bridget Moynahan is underused as Ryan's girlfriend, though she looks even more appealing here than in the titillation exercise, Coyote Ugly.

The Sum Of All Fears is a chilling look at how modern politics and warfare could come all too true. Affleck acquits himself well as Jack Ryan, and there are some suspenseful moments along the way. A poor first hour and finish, however, lets the film down. I look forward to seeing more Affleck-as-Ryan films, but the script needs to be better.

(c) Joe Wong (15 June 2002)