Spot the action (Sum Of All Fears (DVD))

Member Name: Caradawn

Product:	Sum Of All Fears (DVD)
Date:	10/10/02 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting storyline

Disadvantages: A bit slow and long winded

I got the job of doing a trailer check on The Sum of All Fears this weekend. Although this wouldn't have been my first choice to watch, I'm happy to watch most films.


Director Phil Alden Robinson has received an Oscar nomination for his adaptation of Field of Dreams. He is also known for directing the first episode of Band of Brothers and directing and co-writing Sneakers. The producer, Mace Neufeld, has helped launch the careers of actors such as Kevin Costner and Alec Baldwin and author and Executive Producer Tom Clancy is well known for his other Jack Ryan best sellers which have also been made into films: The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.


The plot centres on what would happen if terrorists got hold of a nuclear bomb? Well in this scenario it is a group of Nazi sympathisers who have acquired one on the black market. Their plan is not to make the same mistakes as Hitler. So instead of trying to fight Russia and America they have come up with a plan to pitch them against each other, culminating in the nuclear bomb being set off in America's Baltimore football stadium. It's up to CIA agent Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) to figure out where the bomb came from and prevent war with Russia.

With big names like Morgan Freeman and Ben Affleck in the film, you'd expect good acting and on the whole you wouldn?t be disappointed. My only criticism on that point is that I felt that James Cromwell somehow didn't fit the role as President Fowler (or maybe that's just because I keep picturing him as the farmer in Babe). Morgan Freeman as Jack Ryan's boss Bill Cabot adds a touch of humour now and again. Another interesting character was John Clark (Liev Schreiber) as former secret agent turned pen pusher, coerced back into active duty by Cabot. His job is to go undercover to find the three missing scientists who, as it happens, are working on the afore mentioned nuclear bomb.

>Alan Bates's role as the bad guy Richard Dressler is actually quite small; as is the role of Bridget Moynahan as Ryan's love interest.

The storyline the movie took was quite complex, so I won't go into it in great detail as it would take too long. The scenes of interest for me were when the bomb exploded (it was something you knew was going to happen, but they still managed to surprise you with the timing of it) and when Ryan teams up with Clark to do a raid on the complex in which the scientists are working.

The film itself is not particularly fast paced, but on saying that it's not exactly slow either. It has a 12 certificate, but I can't imagine someone so young wanting to sit through it. Although it isn't as long as The Lord of the Rings or Doctor Zhivago it's not a short film either. It could possibly have done with being a little shorter as it seems a bit stretched out in places. It doesn't end where you'd expect it to and I personally felt the ending scene was a tad unnecessary.


THE CAST

Jack Ryan - Ben Affleck (Pearl Harbour, Armageddon, Good Will Hunting)
Bill Cabot - Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy)
President Fowler - James Cromwell (Babe, The Green Mile)
John Clark - Liev Schreiber (Hamlet, Scream I, II & III, Twighlight)
Richard Dressler - Alan Bates (Hamlet, The Mothman Prophecies)
President Nemerov - Ciaran Hinds (Circle of Friends, The Road to Perdition)
Cathy Muller - Bridget Moynahan (Serendipity, Coyote Ugly)

Website - http://www.sumofallfearsmovie.com/

On the whole I found the film enjoyable, but certainly not exciting or action packed.


xx Caradawn xx

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