The Sum of All Fears Review
by Dennis Schwartz (ozus AT sover DOT net)June 5th, 2002
SUM OF ALL FEARS, THE (director: Phil Alden Robinson; screenwriters: based on a Tom Clancy novel/Paul Attanasio/Daniel Pyne;
cinematographer: John Lindley; editor: Neil Travis; music: Jerry Goldsmith; cast: Ben Affleck (Jack Ryan), Morgan Freeman (Bill Cabot), James
Cromwell (President Fowler), Liev Schreiber (John Clark), Philip Baker Hall (Defense Secretary Becker), Alan Bates (Richard Dressler), Bridget
Moynahan (Cathy Muller), Ron Rifkin (Secretary of State Owens), Bruce McGill (National Security Advisor Revel), Ciarán Hinds (Alexander
Nemerov), Colm Feore (Olson); Runtime: 124; Paramount Pictures; 2002)
"It's the kind of empty Hollywood film that has been made since the onset of films."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A topical thriller whereby a pop culture film exploits the anxieties over terrorism that are plaguing present society. The filmmakers who shot this film
before 9/11 have weakened their story considerably by making the terrorists neo-Nazis instead of Arab fundamentalists, thereby giving the film an unsatisfying PC look. It is based on Tom Clancy's 1991 thrilling novel on the adventures of Jack Ryan (Affleck). In the novel, the Arabs were indeed the terrorists. Clancy's charming adventurer Jack Ryan is also featured in similar thrillers put onscreen -- The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger -- but with either Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford as the star.
The nuclear attack has an optimistic outcome, as the second half becomes cartoonish until it ends with a mushy Hollywood formulaic anticlimactic happy ending as opposed to Clancy's terrible vision. It seems to be saying, bring on the nukes -- it's no big deal! It's the kind of empty Hollywood film that has been made since the onset of films, as it takes an anti-art stance in its attempt to come up with a blockbuster (Arab countries can show this pic, as by making Nazis the villains there are no customers to lose or offend).
It was ludicrous seeing Ben Affleck single-handedly avert a nuclear war, as he wanders through the nuked city of Baltimore oblivious to radiation and gets on the hotline phone to chat with the Russian President Nemerov (Hinds) seconds before a possible nuke war and gives a corny speech
that saves the world. He also tracks down the fascist agents who conveniently remain behind in Baltimore.
Where the film does well, is building up the tension as the stolen bomb gets into the hands of terrorists. Clancy fans should be more pleased than others with the film (though Clancy as well as his readers have complained his 1,000 page book was radically changed for the movie). Others might find it very ordinary and listless, in a film that trivializes the deadly possibilities of a real nuclear attack and therefore gives the public a false sense
of security. The second half destroys any attempt at seriousness, as the film falls apart by nuking itself.
It is directed without depth by Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams/Sneakers), and is written as if it were a B-film action pic by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne. It is most appealing as an entertaining commercial film without much of a message, but with a lot of hogwash to deliver.
In 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, an Israeli airplane carrying a nuclear bomb crashes in the Golan Heights, Syria. The film flashes forward to 29 years later and some Arabs find the unexploded bomb and think it is worthless, as they sell it on the black market for only $400. It soon gets in the hands of billionaire neo-Nazi fanatic Austrian businessman, Richard Dressler (Bates), who purchases it for $50 million and plans to use it to start a nuclear war between Russia and the USA. The opera loving Nazi fanatic states: "Hitler was stupid. He fought America and Russia, instead of letting them fight one another." His plan is to have his global Aryan party rule the world after these two superpowers destroy each other.
Jack Ryan is a lowly desk-job history analyst in a government sponsored think-tank in Virginia. He's a twentysomething bachelor who just started dating his surgeon girlfriend, Cathy (Bridget Moynahan). She's attractive and her occupation comes in handy when the film needs an excuse to show the burn victims in her Baltimore hospital after the nuke attack.
After the Russian President suddenly dies because of health reasons the new president is Nemerov, someone Jack is an expert on because he wrote
a detailed report on him. This brings him to the attention of CIA honcho Bill Cabot (Freeman), who brings him along to a national security briefing attended by the Bush-like President Fowler (Cromwell). Cabot is an even-tempered regular guy, who keeps a "back channel" into the Kremlin to
avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
Cabot takes young Jack under his wings and brings him to Moscow for a disarmament inspection meeting and to meet the new president, who is faced with extremists in his military. The Russians initiated an unauthorized chemical attack on Chechnya something Nemerov, who is portrayed as being as reasonable as the American prez, is not prepared to admit he had no knowledge of since he would rather appear guilty than weak and not in control.
Upon his return to Washington Jack is sent by Cabot to the Ukraine to locate the three missing Russian nuclear scientists who are working on delivering the bomb as functional and he is assigned to help CIA field operative John Clark (Schreiber), who is ruthless but effective. They discover that a bomb was sent to Russia from Haifa by a South African neo-Nazi operative (Colm Feore) and soon Jack is on the plane home warning Cabot to
get the prez out of the Super Bowl game in the Baltimore Forum because the bomb is in play there and that he also found the three scientists dead.
No one seems to believe him that Russia is not responsible for the nuke attack, as young Jack tries to convince someone in power that he knows
what he's talking about.
The neo-fascist agents detonate in Baltimore the small nuclear bomb built in 1968 in America. During the attack the President is hustled aboard Air Force One and the harried cabinet officials argue loudly in a secret bunker how to respond. The hawkish Defense Secretary Becker (Hall) and the restrained Secretary of State Owens (Rifkin) vie to get their point across to the befuddled prez, and there's also White House insider National Security Advisor Revel (McGill) adding his sense of sobriety to the conflict. The film aims to show how easy it is for powerful countries through a misunderstanding to get into a catastrophic war, as we get to watch the Russians go through the same 'Hawk and Dove' scenario as in Washington.
The film winds down in a cliché race-against-the-clock scenario.
It all boils down to Ben Affleck straightening out the world. Unfortunately Affleck is the wrong one for this part, as he lacks depth and the ability to be convincing as a superhero. His role had no credibility or charisma, and the stellar supporting cast looked inept trying to make this bomb work. The film also ends on an insensitive banal note, as Affleck and his honey are having a blissful picnic on the White House lawn obviously forgetting that nearby Baltimore was just tragically destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
REVIEWED ON 6/6/2002 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
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http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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