The Sum of All Fears (2002)

Canada, Germany, United States of America

Thriller, Action, Drama

Paramount, Mace Neufeld Productions

Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, James Cromwell, Liev Schreiber, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Bates

Phil Alden Robinson

Paul Attanasio, Daniel Pyne

Taglines: 27,000 nuclear weapons. One is missing.

cia, usa president, based on novel or book, atomic bomb, spy, cold war, intelligence, chechnya, intelligence agency, nuclear explosion, terrorism, jack ryan, ex military, russian president, baltimore, maryland, cia analyst, intelligence analyst, arms inspection, imminent threat

When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.

Reviews:

Author: sooner1ksn
As a movie, it is OK, actually one of Afflec's better efforts. However, apparently the writer of the screenplay read a different book than I did, because "The Sum Of All Fears", the movie, had about 3 things in common with the book: The name, the main characters, and the fact that it involved nuclear weapons. Why change from Denver to Baltimore? The relationships between Ryan and most of the other characters is scrambled up. Neither Afflec nor Harrison Ford got the character of Jack Ryan right (Ryan is NOT an action hero, he is a deep thinker with a giant inferiority complex who still manages to be a hero, because he HAS to). Actually, Baldwin got it closer in Red October. If you haven't read the book, this film is passable, but if you expected to recognize Clancy's story, you will be disappointed.