GusF Based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Tom Clancy, this is an extremely effective and compelling thriller. Since it has received some fairly mediocre reviews, my hopes were not particularly high but it turned out to be hugely enjoyable. In all honesty, I would have preferred a third Harrison Ford film rather than a reboot but it is at least a slick and well made one. Although it was filmed before 9/11, it is notable as being the first major Hollywood film on the subject of terrorism to be released after it. It has a very clever script by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne. Phil Alden Robinson's direction is very good, which surprised since he is not exactly known as an action director.The film has been criticised by many people as being very difficult to follow but I can't really see why. It is admittedly complex and you have to pay attention in order to understand everything but I'd take that over a film where I can mess around on my phone for most of it and still understand it perfectly any day of the week. It opens with an Israeli plane being shot down over the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 and the consequent loss of one of its nuclear weapons. In September 2002, the bomb is discovered by scrap metal merchants and sold to an arms dealer for a pittance. He then sells it to an Austrian neo-Nazi named Richard Dressler, who intends to use it to start a nuclear war between the US and Russia which will leave Europe as a fascist superstate under his control. To that end, the bomb is detonated at a sports stadium in Baltimore in the hope of placing the blame squarely on Russia. At one point, Dressler says that Hitler's biggest mistake was going to war with both the US and Russia instead of setting them against each other and it is hard to disagree with that. Of course, if a plot like Dressler's were ever enacted successfully, Europe would undoubtedly be devastated as well but never mind that!The film stars Ben Affleck as the third actor to play Jack Ryan. He does not have the same easy charm as Alec Baldwin and particularly Harrison Ford but he is nevertheless convincing in the role. Affleck will never be Laurence Olivier but he is a likable actor with a good screen presence. In this film, Ryan is younger than in the three previous ones and has only been working at the CIA for 14 months. He moves up in the world when his prediction that Alexander Nemerov would succeed the hard-drinking Boris Yeltsin-esque Russian President Zorkin proves to be correct after the latter's death. Having written a paper on Nemerov, he is an expert on the new President and correctly believes that he is not a militant hardliner but merely adopts that role in order to save face. After the bomb explodes in Baltimore, Ryan desperately tries to contact US President J. Robert Fowler to prevent him from launching a nuclear attack on the Russian Federation before he eventually contacts Nemerov personally. Ryan's one man mission to escape the partially irradiated Baltimore and stop World War III may be a little far-fetched but it operates on film logic as opposed to real world logic.The always excellent Morgan Freeman is perfectly cast as CIA Director William Cabot, who becomes a friend and mentor to Ryan as the film progresses. Ciarán Hinds is fantastic in the role of the moderate Nemerov, basically a post-Communist Gorbachev. As his name would suggest, Hinds is not of Russian descent but he had to learn pages of Russian dialogue for the film, which could not have been easy. However, he delivers every line in a very natural, believable manner. James Cromwell is very good as President Fowler, a good and decent man who has no desire to start a war but believes that he must in order not to look weak in the eyes of America's enemies. The extremely heated discussions between Fowler and his senior staff are very compelling and I imagine that such conversations would be conducted in the same manner in reality. One of the reasons that these scenes are so effective is that actors of the calibre of Philip Baker Hall, Ron Rifkin and Bruce McGill were cast as the key members of his staff. In one of his final films before his death in 2003, Alan Bates is suitably creepy as Dressler, who was possibly named after Anton Drexler (the founder of what eventually became the Nazi Party). Bridget Moynahan is perfectly fine as Cathy Muller but she has no chemistry with Affleck and her scenes are too brief for her to make much of an impression. Of the five "Jack Ryan" films, "Patriot Games" is the only one that really gave Cathy a chance to shine. Other than the actors that I have already mentioned, I was very impressed by Michael Byrne (who also appeared in the similar but less effective Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies"), Colm Feore (who later popped up as a different character in the franchise's second reboot "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit") and Ken Jenkins. However, Liev Schrieber, who is not a very good actor, was pretty boring as John Clark, particularly compared to Willem Dafoe's interpretation of the character in "Clear and Present Danger".Overall, this is a very exciting thriller that it is far better than it is made out to be. Another "Jack Ryan" film starring Affleck would have been welcome. I have greatly enjoyed this series, the closest thing to an American version of the Bond films that I have come across.

Daniel Loe *WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* I'm not really sure why The Sum of All Fears gets so much hate. I like this movie, I think it has a really good story. Ben Affleck isn't as good as some of the other actors to have played Jack Ryan, but I think he does a decent job. I do however think Liev Schrieber is a good John Clark, and I may actually prefer him to Wilem Dafoe's portrayal. The film seems to get hate for deviating from the book, which never bothers me that much, as long as its the same story. I've never read the book, but I do know that it's 900 pages long, so obviously some stuff was going to be cut. The movie has some good humor as well, but it has a dark tone to it, which is handled really well. Also, since this came out a decade after the Cold War ended, we get a non-propaganda portrayal of the Russians. I've heard it's Al-Qaeda who plant the bomb in the book, which could've worked better, but I didn't mind the fascism sub- plot. This still feels like an intelligent movie, as all the Jack Ryan movies do, so I'll give it a pass on a few moments that feel kind of... dumb. All in all, I think this is a pretty good movie, with a decent cast, a good story, and some alright acting.

Dark Jedi Well, if we start with the good. The story itself is not really too bad and if you forget the title, the mention of Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan, then the movie is decent enough. It is a reasonably well implemented thriller. Not great but worth seeing.However, the book is about Arab terrorists performing terrorist acts by means of thermonuclear devices causing the two superpowers to come to the brink of a nuclear war. The movie has replaced this foe with some nonsense story about emerging neo-Nazis wanting to take over the world. This is just utter rubbish. It is obviously a political decision by some asshole not wanting to upset the Arab community so he picks a "safe" bad guy instead. The speech where the head Nazi compares themselves with a virus was just unintelligent writing and painful to watch.Nazis are obvious bad guys and can be put to good use in movies, just as communists and Muslim terrorists and a whole bunch of other groups, but not when the original material uses another, much more logical, foe. The original foes in the book would have some force behind them in the radical Muslim community that made their plans for world takeover after the superpowers had annihilated each other at least somewhat plausible. If you ignore minor details like that there would really not be much to take over after a barrage of nuclear missiles from USA and Russian of course. But a few twisted old Nazis that sits in hiding in dark rooms cooking together this hair-brained scheme? No way! I am sad to say that whoever asshole that decided to rewrite the main adversary of this movie ruined it totally for me. I am really happy that I never watched it when it came out in the theaters but instead watched it, in a sense "for free", on my Netflix subscription.

Desertman84 The Sum Of All Fears is an action/political thriller that features Jack Ryan,the famous CIA spy developed by Tom Clancy.This is the fourth film about the character that was based on Clancy's novel with the same title after the likes of The Hunt For Red October,Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger were made into films. In it,it features a younger Jack Ryan portrayed by Ben Affleck.The cast also includes Morgan Freeman and Bridget Moynahan. Phil Alden Robinson directed it.The President of Russia passed away and he is succeeded by an unknown whom little information is known.This causes panic to many nations especially the United States.To pacify the fears felt by many,the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Bill Cabot recruits Jack Ryan,a young analyst working from the Russia desk to gather information and provide insight.But many events happen such as the capital of Chechnya is leveled by a nuclear bomb.Then fear intensifies especially when terrorist threats are being made to the U.S.It is now up to Jack Ryan to prevent these threats or another world war could happen anytime soon.This new Jack Ryan film is somewhat unrealistic and lacks plausibility particularly with the events that could happen particularly in the international front and the political motivations behind the countries involved in conflict.The bomb being set at a Superbowl was somewhat cheesy although it did manage to provide suspense to the story.Added to that,we get to see the new character more of a heartthrob rather than an intelligence expert.While many female fans may not disapprove of that especially with Affleck playing the lead role,it is distracting and it somewhat takes away many substances that Tom Clancy's novels want to provide his intended audience.It made a lot of money more than ten years ago.Although it was far from a typical Clancy novel and what intelligence spies are all about,it will definitely provide entertainment and great musical soundtrack.While this may displease many critics and the serious moviegoer,an average fan may not find displeasure in it for it was definitely a fun movie for them especially if they like Mission Impossible and James Bond films.