The Sum of All Fears (2002) (VG)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Release Date:

29 May 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Carole Ruggier	...	Female Team Member (voice) (as Carol Ruggier)
Joe Whyte	...	Male Team Member (voice)
Douglas Rye	...	(voice)
Matt Lindquist	...	(voice)
Juergen Peretzki	...	(voice) (as Jurgen Peretzki)
James Horan	...	(voice)
Stefan Marks	...	(voice)
Jay Harik	...	(voice)
Alain Benatar	...	(voice)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Red Storm Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#28.10)" (2002)

Mr Ben Affleck presumably recruited straight from grade school.....

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Mr Tom Clancy would have us believe that during the 1973 Middle East conflict,Israel - bad sports that they were - had a plane in the air ready to drop a nuclear bomb if it looked as if they were going to lose.Then presumably,they would pick up all their toys and stomp off home.The good news is they didn't lose - the bad news is the plane was shot down and mouldered in the desert for 29 years before a South African(taken over from Brits as the current Baddies) finds out about it and sells it to a Neo - Nazi group led by Mr Alan Bates,also a chain - smoker just to add to his total bastardness.Buying the bomb for $400 and selling it for $50 million seems pretty excessive,but,hey,it's a seller's market,I guess.The nasty Nazi arranges for the bomb to be sent to America where it is hidden in a cigarette machine in the Football Stadium.Due to diligent CIA Intelligence procedures,the theft is uncovered and top man Jack Ryan is put on the case .Phew!However,just when I thought "The sum of all fears" was going to follow the safe format of many another "bomb in a stadium" movie and the device was going to be found at the last second by the hero - it didn't.The bomb went off and triggered a rapidly accelerating conflict between the U.S. and Russia that neither President seems to want but is unable to control.All well and good then,a short sharp shock to the viewer and I settled down ready for a satisfactory resolution to this thorny problem........but didn't get one. For a start,young master Ben Affleck looks hardly old enough to be out of short trousers.How the wily old Russian President could possibly take him seriously as a CIA Analyst I couldn't quite work out. "I like him",he proclaimed as they met earlier in the movie,and that seems to be about it. Mr Affleck's own President clearly thinks he's a cocky young upstart - a sound enough judgement based on what we see,you might think. But as young Ben and the Russian Premier bond on the hotline,the crisis is suddenly over,"Stand down to Defcon 3" (whatever that means)grits President Mr James Cromwell,perspiring freely.Cue for some sort of Signing Ceremony between the New Best Friends and the brutal elimination of the various agents that were responsible for the manufacture of the crisis. There is no explanation as to how Baltimore appears miraculously to have escaped deadly fall - out as Jack and his Doctor lady friend perform heroics in the makeshift hospital,despite the Government guys just a whoop and a holler down the road being forced back by high levels of radiation - perhaps their hair will fall out later. Mr Affleck looks a touch tubby in some scenes,perhaps his mommy should cut down on the peanut butter in his lunch pack.