The Sum of All Fears (2002)

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.

Director:

Phil Alden Robinson

Writers:

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

Stars:

Ian Mongrain, Russell Bobbitt, Morgan Freeman

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ian Mongrain	...	Syrian Radar Operator
Russell Bobbitt	...	Israeli Pilot
James Cromwell	...	President Fowler
Ken Jenkins	...	Admiral Pollack
Bruce McGill	...	National Security Advisor Revell
John Beasley	...	General Lasseter
Morgan Freeman	...	DCI William Cabot
Philip Baker Hall	...	Defense Secretary 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
Robert Martin Robinson	...	Zorkin's Interviewer

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

cia | russia | nuclear bomb | terrorist | scientist | 

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Taglines:

27,000 Nuclear Weapons. One Is Missing.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English Russian Ukrainian German Arabic

Release Date:

31 May 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

La suma de todos los miedos

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$68,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,156,633 (Australia) (30 August 2002)

Gross:

$621,647 (South Africa) (27 September 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, MFP Munich Film Partners GmbH & Company I. Produktions KG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ciarán Hinds (President Nemerov) who did not previously speak a word of Russian, learned all of his large chunks of Russian dialogue in two weeks.

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Goofs

When Jack is in bed with Cathy, a shot of their feet shows Jack to be on the right. When we see their bodies, Jack is on the left.

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Quotes

[aboard the command plane]
Owens: Are you advocating we launch a first strike...
Becker: [shouts] It is not a first strike! There's already been a first strike! And a second! Don't you get it?
Owens: No! I don't get it! I don't understand why we have to nuke them, for God's sake!
[shouts]
Owens: It's not reasonable!
President Fowler: Sidney, goddamnit! They practically sank an aircraft carrier! Their missile silos are hot! We're getting nothing but bullshit from Nemerov! And let's not forget how this thing started, OK? They tried to kill *me*,...

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Connections

References The Conformist (1970)

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Soundtracks

"Romance: Io la vidi e al suo sorriso"
from opera "Don Carlo"
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Thomas Harper
Conducted by Michael Halász
with Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) and Slovak Philharmonic Chorus
Courtesy of Naxos of America
By Arrangement with Source/Q

User Reviews

This virus is airborne

Final Score: 4.0 (out of 10)

The movie adaptation of Tom Clancy's "The Sum of All Fears" might be a starkly frightening movie, could be a cautionary tale of homeland terrorism and nuclear war - that is, if it wasn't caught in the confounding cinematic time-warp it finds itself in. It is primarily set after the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the nuclear arms race with the Russians, however it's also a prequel with a younger, cocky Jack Ryan (plug-in flavor of the month Ben Affleck) and with the principle villains being Nazis. This movie will probably be remembered more for it's unfortunate post-9/11 release date (which gave it a sense of importance) then the silly story and content. It's not even so much that the Nazis-as-bad-guys thing is an overused, now out of date cliche as much as the idea that they were Middle Eastern terrorists in Clancy's book and the writers and director Phil Robinson changed them smacks of pure political correctness. Nobody wants to offend the terrorists. As a result the movie feels phony. And that's a big problem because we feel detached from it and, thus, don't feel it is as sharp, timely and intense as Clancy meant it to be. The reason that movies like "Fail Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove" were so brilliant is because they were gutsy enough to take on the public's fears directly. This movie isn't, in fact, it goes out of it's way to hide in it's phony world from doing anything gutsy. All movie villains have to be white Anglo Saxon Europeans most likely with `sinister' Russian or German accents. This type of stuff might frighten liberal Hollywood types who think the president might drop nukes at any moment, but it's not going to resonate with most people.

It also doesn't help that we can't connect with the characters. Affleck does a fine job or running around yelling, but there isn't a lot of development in the young Ryan or in any character we meet. Robinson's direction is purely rudimentary. The whole thing has the feel of a clumsy TV movie. It's race-against-the-clock gives us no real payoff. There is exactly one really good scene here involving Morgan Freeman, a cell phone and a stadium full of people. It also has one interesting little monologue about how the internet and technology has connected terrorism globally like never before. But without any characters, eye-candy action or resonating story we're left pondering why we wasted our time on this thing.

Alternate viewing recommendation: "24 - Season 2". Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer runs circles around Ryan in generally the same plot only more intense, frighteningly timely and on a more epic scale.