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| The Sum of All Fears review by Dhyana Kearly |
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 | | | The Sum of All Fears stars Ben Affleck as CIA agent Jack Ryan |
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By David Richards
Grade: A
With political tensions rising across the globe, the new movie The Sum of All Fears depicts American concerns of nuclear war in full color and surround sound. A sensitive subject to begin with, sitting through a movie revealing the complexities of nuclear war is sure to fill many movie goers with at last some trepidation.
Based on the novel by Tom Clancy, this film presents an interesting mix of spy games, political intrigue, career obligations and love.
The plot revolves around an unfired nuclear bomb lost in the middle eastern desert during the 70s. When the bomb is resurrected from its sandy grave almost thirty years later, a Nazi fanatic is all too eager to initiate a plot to annihilate existing super powers.
Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) is a young CIA historian with his thumb on the pulse of Russian political personalities. When the existing leader for that country succumbs to health problems a relatively unknown successor rises to the post leaving American officials in the dark.
Ryan quickly finds himself propelled to the forefront when he is recognized as one of the few people who might know what to expect from the new Russian government.
Under the tutelage of high-level CIA official Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman) Ryan is quickly introduced to the etiquette of Washington politics. Together they make a trip to Moscow when new Soviet president (Ciaran Hinds) assumes office.
Although it's unclear exactly how much power the new leader holds over his country, it's made evident that he is a `good guy' trying to maintain a reasonable stance on national relations.
All the while, neo-Nazi factions have realized their dreams of obtaining a nuclear warhead on the black market and are launching a long-held scheme geared toward pitting Russians and Americans against one another.
Ryan finds himself in the middle of all of the confusion, the only man with the answers who can stave off full scale annihilation - if he could only get anyone to listen to him.
Amidst it all, he is trying not to be too much in love with his girlfriend (Bridget Moynahan). A dedicated CIA man with a mission, every time the two are together, the pager goes off or the phone rings.
The only people who seem to know where the pair is actually headed is the CIA and the top Russian spy-guys. The relationship pans out fairly well even though Moynahan plays an obscure role, it's a necessary role for this story.
James Cromwell plays the all-American President Fowler, and only occasionally was I given reason to recall his role in Babe.
Similarly there was only one moment in this film that caused me to recall Ben Affleck's role in the fateful, yet equally war oriented Pearl Harbor. That dash across a fiery tarmac could easily be superimposed into either of these films, without causing so much as a blink.
Even though this has to do with a subject most of us would rather not think about, I thought The Sum of All Fears was well worth the seeing. In fact, I can't think of any reason not to recommend it for most all audiences.
**** The Sum of All Fears is rated PG-13 for violence, disaster images and brief strong language |
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