The Sum of All Fears (2002)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

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:

CIA | Russia | Jack Ryan | Nuclear Bomb | Scientist

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:

Der Anschlag (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:

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

After having bought the 12-type fission bomb for $400 from the Arab digger (a nominal sum, for the digger's dead son rather than the "worthless" device), Olson emails his contact. On the TV in the background an episode of the BBC TV series "Antiques Roadshow" (1997) is playing. This is a TV show that tours the UK (and occasionally other parts of the world) assessing and valuing items that the general public have found, just like the digger did, and often surprising people with their value.

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:

[just before he falls over dead]
Zorkin: I am to be described as "robust" and "healthy."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dus (2005)

Soundtrack:

The Star-Spangled Banner

"This is canned!"

As an average espionage movie, this is a good flick. In fact, if the names involved weren't "Jack Ryan" and Tom Clancy, and if we hadn't actually seen some terrorist disasters in the last eight months, I would've thought it a really well-done intelligence thriller, looking at how Russia and the U.S. might head towards nuclear war if somehow a nuke went off in the U.S. during a time of tension. Affleck and Freeman seemed fine, but I keep on reminding myself supposedly that these are the characters that should have become James Earl Jones and Baldwin.

After September 11, and especially with the Clancy/Ryan films that have already been made, "Sum" just feels wrong. Philip Baker Hall's line about the response from the Russians, "This is canned!" feels like a description of the whole film. How can you blow up Baltimore and still have a happy go-lucky ending? If you are going to, ADMIT that you're just trying to make a fun Friday night flick, and not a TOPICAL IN-DEPTH film about U.S. security, which is kind of what Affleck and Clancy have been claiming they're doing. (Kind of like claiming the ridiculous "Air Force One" was a serious look at how to respond to terrorism on board the president's plane.)

Also, if this was a film about nuclear war, then it should have stuck to that possibility. If it's a film about the hunt for some terrorists planning a nuclear attack, that would be a different story. The way the film neatly wraps up everything in the end (with the exception of the destruction of BALTIMORE) is both silly and pure Hollywood. I'm disappointed, and I hope this is a hiccup in an otherwise intriguing series of well-done espionage films.