Not being too familiar with Tom Clancy’s other film adaptations like Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger helps let one appreciate his new film The Sum of All Fears, which is directed by Phil Alden Robinson (Sneakers).  From what I recall, previous Clancy thrillers focused on his character Jack Ryan (who was played by Harrison Ford in the aforementioned films, and by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October) who is now played as young and inexperienced by Ben Affleck.  Unlike its predecessors The Sum of All Fears acts more as an ensemble thriller about nuclear catastrophe, and is intentionally less intimate and character driven than the previous films.

Hitting a little too close to home due to 9/11, The Sum of All Fears combines the fear of nuclear terrorism with the fading threat of a massive American war against Russia.  A group of Neo-Nazis, led by Alan Bates, buy a long missing nuclear bomb with the intention of blowing it up in the U.S., blaming it on Russia and having the two countries annihilate each other (supposedly so Europe can rise again to its once great power).  As the President and his staff (including Morgan Freeman, Philip Baker Hall, and James Cromwell) try to deal with the situation despite their misinformation, Jack Ryan has to rush around gathering proof that it is the terrorists and not the Russians who are behind it all.

Although it is a blatant indulgence to simultaneously make the bad guys both terrorists AND Nazis (like being a nuclear terrorist is not bad enough, Clancy had to throw in something extra evil to convince the audience that these guys really mean business), the movie successfully combines a realistic threat on America with a nail biting portrayal of the possible U.S. reaction.  It is probably due to the film’s proximity to 9/11 that a nuclear device going off in an American city seems not only possible in a film but also entirely believable as a real event, and so the movie’s premise comes off as much more affecting simply because of the tragedy in NYC.  The plot is a mixture of a real danger and the implausible possibility that a third party could spark a war between Russia and the U.S.  This would have been a horrifying premise back in the Cold War, where in fact many James Bond movies centered on that same plot device (You Only Live Twice and Thunderball come to immediate mind), but these days what is the likely hood this could still happen?  Mr. Robinson had the foresight to cast a terrific cast to play the Russians, obviously deviating from current reality but never the less creating a movie situation where U.S. aggression against Russia all of a sudden seems possible. 

The Sum of All Fears really has a cast of about a dozen, despite the fact Mr. Freeman and Mr. Affleck are given top billing.  Mr. Freeman, who seems to be getting typecast as the top government official or top criminal investigator these days, as well as the cast that makes up the president and his staff are obviously all great character actors (what they are actually doing in a thriller like this is beyond me) and add considerable dramatic weight to the film.  It really is the interaction between the U.S. presidential staff and the Russians that boost the film’s tension, shot mostly in handheld camera with all the actors looking as stressed and rash as one would assume they would be in this situation.  Too often in presidential war thrillers like this the entire staff handles the material like they are calmly planning a game of golf instead of deciding the fate of millions, but actors like Hall and Cromwell know exactly how intense something like this should be and it wouldn’t be much of a stress to say the tension of the film successfully rests on the shoulders of the wonderful supporting cast.

Due to this Mr. Robinson thankfully keeps the film away from centering on Ryan, who’s exploits in the film seem to rest on the movie’s need to include a character that is not a 50-year-old government bureaucrat.  Most of Mr. Affleck’s screen time is used to either establish that he has a girlfriend or to show that he knows how to deal with a couple fisticuffs and these seem to be in the movie solely to prove that unlike the rest of the film’s cast Ryan can be both a hunk and a badass when push comes to shove.  His limited acting abilities not withstanding, Mr. Affleck handles the few dramatic moments he gets passably, he certainly does not have the presence of Harrison Ford or Alec Baldwin, but he certainly looks like a Jack Ryan and for the screen time Affleck gets that really is all that matters.

Taught, decently believable and undeniably creepy due to recent events, The Sum of All Fears is as thrilling as it needs to be, and what it lacks in a strong lead it makes up for in good pacing and supporting cast.  Slight implausibilities and a hokey last scene do little to diminish the effect of such a well produced commercial thriller.