The Sum of All Fears (2002)

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:

Espionage | Playing Footsie | Barefoot | Sequel | Jack Ryan

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:

Anschlag, Der (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:

South Korea:12 | Iceland:12 | New Zealand:M | Malaysia:U | 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:

The lines "Meet the new boss, just the same as the old boss" is from the Who's "Wont Get Fooled Again", written by Pete Townshend.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the nuclear bomb detonates, its shock wave is strong enough to flip the presidential limousine in the outskirts of the city over. It would have to have a yield of at least 1 megaton to do this, but news broadcasts describe the explosion as being smaller than that of the Hiroshima bomb. The Hiroshima bomb had a yield of 15 kilotons.

Quotes:

Dressler: Each day we lose a little bit more of our separate, sovereign ability to determine our own futures... and each day the world comes a little bit closer to that terrible moment when the beating of a butterfly's wings unleashes a hurricane God himself cannot stop.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The DiCaprio Code (2006)

Soundtrack:

Rise Up

Jack Ryan Saves the World!

"The Sum of All Fears" is the latest film in the Jack Ryan series as written by Tom Clancy. In the previous films, Ryan was presented as a family man and played by Alex Baldwin and Harrison Ford. This time around we are asked to accept a Ryan who is 25 years younger (Ben Affleck), unmarried and a nerdy, wet behind the ears CIA historian. The age difference would have been more believable had the film been set in 1973, when the story begins, rather than the present.

Anyway, the story is about a disgruntled ex-Nazi, Dressler (Alan Bates) who acquires a nuclear device and plans to instigate a war between the USA and Russia and then take over when the super powers destroy each other. The new Russian President, Nemerov (Ciaran Hinds) is set up by Dressler to be blamed for a nuculear attack which wipes out a large part of Baltimore. U.S. President Fowler (James Cromwell) calls in the CIA headed by William Cabot (Morgan Freeman).

Cabot enlists the aide of historian Jack Ryan (Affleck) because Ryan has done a thorough study on Nemerov. Ryan believes the Russian to be innocent even though all around him believe him guilty. As each side prepares to launch their respective missles, Ryan and CIA Operative John Clark (Liev Schrieber) are busily gathering information and Ryan is racing against the clock to convince Fowler of Nemenov's innocence.

Affleck tries his best to make us forget Harrison Ford but to no avail. He simply cannot be taken seriously as the man who holds the world's fate in his hands. Freeman is excellent as always and Cromwell and Hinds stand out as the two world leaders. Bates makes a nasty villain and Schrieber is good as the mysterious man with a past, Clark. Bridget Moynahan appears as Affleck's love interest and future wife.

The real star of the picture are the special effects. The nuclear explosion is realistic and believable and the attack on the aircraft carrier is equally good.

I hope that in the next Jack Ryan movie, he is portrayed by someone who is at least old enough to shave.