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The Sum of All Fears (2002)
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:15
Rotten:19
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: A slick and well-made thriller that takes on new weight due to the current political climate.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, disaster images and brief strong language
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:May 31, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $118,471,320
Synopsis: In this high-intensity drama, based on the novel by Tom Clancy, Ben Affleck stars as Jack Ryan, the CIA agent from Clancy's THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER.... In this high-intensity drama, based on the novel by Tom Clancy, Ben Affleck stars as Jack Ryan, the CIA agent from Clancy's THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. Here, Ryan is dealing with a terrifying new problem: a nuclear weapon has fallen into the hands of foreign terrorists who are determined to create a war between Russia and the U.S. As the film begins, a South African arms dealer (Colm Feore) acquires a long-lost nuclear weapon and sells it, at great profit, to a resurgent group of fascists led by Dressler (Alan Bates), who plans to lure the U.S. and Russia into a war. Soon after, the Russian premiere dies and the relatively unknown Nemerov (Ciarán Hinds) replaces him. But U.S. president Fowler (James Cromwell) smells a rat, and calls CIA chief William Cabot (Morgan Freeman) and special agent Jack Ryan (Affleck), the junior analyst who has been researching Nemerov, into action. THE SUM OF ALL FEARS is a powerful addition to Tom Clancy's techno-thriller series. Affleck is effective, and there are notable supporting performances from Freeman, Cromwell, Feore, Hinds, Bates, and Liev Schreiber as a CIA operative. Director Phil Alden Robinson manages the action with great skill. Particularly notable are the terrifying nuclear attack and the sequence of final reckonings intercut with Puccini's beautiful aria "Nessun Dorma." [More]
Starring: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell
Starring: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Alan Bates, Ciaran Hinds, Colm Feore, Bridget Moynahan, Philip Baker Hall, Ron Rifkin, Bruce McGill, Marie Matiko
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Screenwriter: Paul Attanasio, Daniel Pynee
Producer: Mace Neufeld
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Studio: Paramount Pictures
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Reviews for The Sum of All Fears
An implausible apocalypse without depth or resonance, a cartoon of international politics presented with no James Bond-like playfulness and with all the superficial realism money can buy.
I'm not saying Affleck is in way over his head, but a scuba tank and swim fins might come in handy.
Affleck merely creates an outline for a role he still needs to grow into, a role that Ford effortlessly filled with authority.
A trite espionage thriller without the thrills but with a lingering measure of nausea.
The Sum of All Fears is almost impossible to follow -- and there's something cringe-inducing about seeing an American football stadium nuked as pop entertainment.
Phil Alden Robinson, who directed from a script by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne, is an accomplished craftsman, but his movie has been upstaged by the sum of our fears.
Has something to disappoint nearly every constituency to which it appeals.
It's a movie that, frankly, I could not recommend to a friend, and yet I find no fault in the filmmaking.
The Sum of All Fears pretends to be a serious exploration of nuclear terrorism, but it's really nothing more than warmed-over Cold War paranoia.
This engrossing, characteristically complex Tom Clancy thriller is shifty in the manner in which it addresses current terrorism anxieties and sidesteps them at the same time.
Toward the end Sum of All Fears morphs into a mundane '70s disaster flick.
Bold, imaginative, rational and persuasive an account of the lethally dangerous world we live in, The Sum of All Fears is an international spy drama with visceral impact.
The explosion essentially ruined -- or, rather, overpowered -- the fiction of the movie for me.
All that moviemaking money, plus all those gadgets, plus Ben Affleck: It doesn't add up to very much.
A mediocre terrorist melodrama turned even punier by real-life events.
Director Phil Alden Robinson and his writers, Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne, do a spellbinding job of cranking up the tension.
Latest News for The Sum of All Fears
October 16, 2009:
Weekly Ketchup: Chris Pine May Play Jack Ryan
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March 20, 2008:
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January 23, 2008:
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January 18, 2008:
Down but Not Out, HD DVD Soldiers On
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