Rating: 
Summary: What a Waste of Money!
Review: Whoever produced The Sum of all Fears must have a reading problem because they liked the script and everything about the script.This is an awful awful movie and an extremly boring movie at that.I didn't even want to see it at first but decided to go to spend some time with my mother.I never saw a Jack Ryan movie so I didn't know what to expect.I never even heard of the character untill I saw the preveiws.The only actually cool part was the effect that the bomb made when it hit(I'm not ruining anything because it's in the commericals)but everything before and after the bomb was all coferencing and talking about things that made the film drag on and on. The acting was ok but I was very disappointed in Ben Afflick because I always liked him.Changing Lanes,Good Will Hunting,Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,and the upcoming Daredevil.I never liked Morgon Freemen.He just never strike me as a good actor. So in my book The Sum of all Fears was a terrible movie with dragging plot and boring dialouge.I don't want to ruin your thoughts on going to the movie but this is just an idea on what the movie is to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoy the moment
Review: Although this movie was not intended to bring realism to life (i.e. the script needed additional work), the suspense was more than adaquate once you got past the character of a 'younger' Jack Ryan that was not a Harrison Ford version. Ben Affleck's character is believable as the fallible desk agent who provides the background research information akin to the role play by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt For The Red October. However, as his expert role is expanded to do a little field work, Mr. Affleck convinces us that broadening the scope into an instant action hero is entirely believable when pushed to protect the fate of the world. Under this premise, the movie is extermely entertaining with all the exceptional explosions and action sequences adding more to the suspense of the ensuing outcome. If you view this film with too much analysis, you will not find the story as believable, but, so just sit back, relax and push 'play' then let the movie runs it course. Ben Affleck wins my vote as the new Jack Ryan. I will await his sequel.
Rating:
Summary: If action is your preference, see this film.
Review: The role of Jack Ryan has regressed in this adaptation of Clancy's book. However, the younger, more timid character played by Ben Affleck is believable if you ignore the previous trilogy of the CIA roles played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. The storyline is well played, adding to an entertaining film. From the opening of Ben Affleck's character as the innocent research CIA staff member to the resulting developed field operative is protrayed in a consistant manner. This film has brief moments of humor, but, is mainly a suspense-action film with an excellent explosion sequences. This Jack Ryan can lead to a sequel without trodding on the previous actors that played this character. If this is any indication of another film to come, I am ready for the next installment. Howie rates this 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Talk about a nightmare! (from me, Tyler)
Review: Well, I read the book (a requisite if you want to compare/contrast any Clancy movie) and then saw the movie with, of all people, my mother. She, a middle-aged housewife with a firm dislike of world events and a distaste for nuclear war, and me, a student who is trying hard to understand the past 100 years and history in order to understand nuclear war, sat down at the center of the top row. The movie started (slowly enough) but the back and forth banter was interesting enough to not bore you. Of course, having read the book, I was confused about the beginning at first (my first thought was "...we missed all the action!") but I caught on. The movie's best highlight though was the Super Bowl game. It was dramatic, and as soon as you saw the big red Bud blimp, you knew it . . . something horrible would happen. I must say, having seen 'Special Bulletin', 'The Day After', and 'Fail-Safe', I think that the nuclear explosion was by and far the most shocking detonation in any such movie. You didn't see it coming (I mean, you knew it would happen, but they decided to pass on the 'bright light on the city's horizon leads to shockwave and mushroom cloud' scenario so often found in these movies) and when it did happen, you were horrified. As a high schooler who sat through September 11 from beginning (Diane and Charlie coming back from commercial break with the one tower burning on ABC will always be the worst memory of the day, as it was the first) I couldn't believe the explosion. While the damage is incredible, the aftermath is unbelievable (literally). Jack walks right through the radiation in Baltimore and seems to resist developing the cancerous tumors talked about in the book. Cathy survives the explosion with cuts, and I'm sorry, but as a survivor of a tornado (that's right, a twister) I know that glass does more damage than that, even in a hospital. All in all, I liked it (though I missed the siege on Moscow because I opted to pee) and would say 'yippe, five stars for you!' if it weren't for the innadequecies of the fallout. On second thought, though, the mushroom cloud alone is worth five stars. My review is: a convincing (though pre 9/11) view of nuclear war between us and the Ruskies, and all played out convincingly, too!
Rating:
Summary: Scary future
Review: I remember reading this novel a few years back and I wondered how it would be like to see it on the silver screen. Well not too bad. Somethings are diffrent from the book but for me nothing really major. Such as a different bad guy, younger Jack Ryan, etc.
I was worried intially with Ben Affleck taking over Harrison Ford but he did fine. He convinced me as a young Jack Ryan. I also liked Liev Schrieber being the new John Clark very convincing. Morgan Freeman as always was great. The rest of the cast was also excellent.
The film started slow but in the middle picks up when the bomb goes off. Very powerful image. Something I hope we will only see in film.
The tension that now begins with Russia and the US is also very accurate and very scary. The way one action causes another escalation in the conflict is pretty realistic.
The film was very good and the suspense excellent. My only complaint is that it is slow at times.
Rating:
Summary: He isn't Ford but still isn't bad as the same character!
Review: The film may start at a slow pace but it gains excitement as it gets to the plot-which is as follows! The Story: based on one of Clancy's most famous novels, Affleck plays a CIA agent Ryan. It's his job to stop the conflict or rather the conflict that's going to be created. Powerful Nuclear weapons have fallen into the hands of terrorists who want to start a war (and not a cold war) between Russia and the United States. The President doesn't trust a lot of people. He calls for Affleck (Ryan) and Freeman (Cabot). It's up to them to avoid the conflict from taking place. Basic: In total receiving over $110,000,000 at the box-office this great thriller is a must-watch. It's exciting has a great story and a great cast ensemble. Robinson is a good director as this movie reveals. Affleck and Freeman should come on as an on-screen duo more often! Who'd like this?: If you usually like war type flicks or X-files type flicks you might like this. It's also for all "I love trouble", "Good will Hunting", and "Pearl Harbour" fans. Recommendation and why: I enjoyed this but everybody might not. It's as good as the "Minority report". It has a good plot and a good script. It's not an ironic-coincidence type story. It's intelligent and interesting! It builds suspense and tends to surprise us now and then. It's boring at the beginning but interesting as the conflict grows. It has non-stop action and tends to amaze you. I usually enjoy smart action thrillers so I enjoyed this. Affleck is not just a stand-in for Ford. He's getting better-the more he acts. Overall I think it's a well-made flick that has it all suspense, excitement, a good cats, a good story, comedy, a good plot, and action! -------------------------Ahmed Mashhood--------------------------
Rating: 
Summary: Frightfully Disillusioned
Review: This film unfortunately was ultimately a big disappointment to me. I can forgo any complaints about the casting of the main character. The story is the culprit here. This is actually a very engrossing film until the final third. The film titillates the viewer tediously divulging events and characters constructing a complex framework of suspense, paranoia and intrigue that ultimately delivers a devastating situation to the world's two superpowers. It is amazing that the scriptwriter, the director or both did not know how to culminate all these events into a climax equal to the impressive filmmaking up to that point. Throughout this film the villains seemed to hold great power and influence and were in absolute control of events that they were manipulating. In the final third of the film the rug gets pulled out from under them and the rest of us. Even Jerry Goldsmith's score seemed to be somewhat reflective on the dubiousness of this entire project. To summarize I can only state that if you have seen the trailer, than you have seen the basic plot line and there is really nothing more you need to see.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Theory on How WWIII Could Start
Review: "The Sum of All Fears" wouldn't be nearly as scary had it come out a year ago. After September 11, when we have had to rethink the unthinkable, the possibility of a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of lunatics seems all too, well, possible. And that's the premis of this Tom Clancy spy thriller. Unlike the earlier film verions of Clancy novels, "The Sum of All Fears" takes a tad longer to get started. After dramatically opening with the crash of an Israeli A4, armed with a single nuclear bomb, in the early 1970s, the film skips to the present and jumps around the globe a bit putting the players in motion. We see the president and staffers responding to a U.S. vs. Russia nuclear scenario--and then learn the incident is just a war game. We meet the young Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) who is just getting his start in the CIA. After Russia's aging president drops dead, Ryan gets called in to brief higher-ups since he's an expert on the new Russian president. Not until the Israeli nuke gets sold to an arms dealer and three Russian nuclear scientists go missing do things begin to heat up. Morgan Freeman as Ryan's CIA boss, Cabot, has some wonderfully funny moments in the movie, and helps to maintain audience interest before the action really gets going. When Ryan vainly tries to explain to his girlfriend why he is standing her up for their date (without revealing his secret CIA trip to Moscow), Cabot (Freeman) tells him to just go ahead and tell her what he's really doing because it will "impress her." Ryan does. The girlfriend hangs up in disgust and disbelief, and Freeman gives a wonderful "seen-it-all-before" smile. Stepping into a role already made famous by Alec Baldwin ("The Hunt for Red October") and Harrison Ford ("Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger"), Affleck has some big shoes to fill. He does an excellent job portrayer Ryan when this CIA stuff is still all very new to him. Come to think of it, that was part of Baldwin's charm in "Red October." My one criticism is how "Sum"--clearly a post-Cold War story--fits in with the other three Clancy movies. Friends who have read the book tell me that "Sum" is set earlier in Ryan's career, and that the movie plot was adjusted to reflect the current situation in Russia. Nevertheless, while I can accept that different actors playing Ryan, it made little sense that a young Ryan would appear in a post-Soviet film, while older Ryans appear in stories in which the Soviet Union was clearly still in tact. That slightly troubling issue aside, if you don't consider chronology, and just enjoy the story, this film's a good one.
Rating:
Summary: Scary Russians w/nukes - forget it! New bad guys out there!
Review: I am a Russian citizen living in the US and I generally did like the film. This is the second Hollywood "spy" movie involving Russia, which I liked. The first one was excellent 1989 movie "The Russia House". This one is an adaptation of 1991 Tom Clancy book. I didn't read the book, but I suspect the screenwriters had to adjust its text quite a bit, since a lot of things had changed since 1991. The director and all the actors did a good job. I thought the music score by Jerry Goldsmith was excellent. Morgan Freeman was as great as usual. I thought that the actor who played Russian President Nemirov did a pretty decent job, although he spoke Russian with immense accent (Why the Hollywood rarely gives Russians to play Russians? May be they are afraid the Russians wouldn't look authentic?). President Nemirov (although his last name suggest "no peace") is shown as a complex and emotional character, generally pro-US, but sounding tough in order to keep his own hard-liners at bay. Of course, it is not difficult to recognize what this movie is - a slightly belated tribute to the intelligence community who kept our politicians from nuking each other during not so glorious years of the "Cold War". Ryzhkov and Jack Ryan - two (a bit idealized) personifications of the US and Russia's intelligence services - who (we hope) will continue to keep our nations from eliminating each other (by whatever it takes, and it takes a lot!). Perhaps they even start to cooperate in earnest, because as it shown in the movie, there are new bad guys out there, new dangers in the air. Nuclear proliferation is a looming danger, aside from international terrorism. So the message of the movie is clear - only personal effort of individuals to reach out and learn about each other as much as possible will help our countries to distinguish who is true friend and who is the enemy. It takes the intelligence to get it right, to make right decisions. The movie should have come out 10 years earlier. It is late but fortunately (for all of us) not too late - thanks to not unmasked folks represented by Ryzhkov and Ryan -so laid back, relax and let R&R do their thing!
Rating:
Summary: Forrest McSweeney and The Sum of All Fears
Review: Morgan Freeman you've done it again! Ben Affleck you've finnaly done it! Sorry man, I mean only to kid around with you. This movie was in my opinion a triumph. I'll get straight to the point. Ben Affleck works at the CIA as an intellegence official, and when Neo Facists buy a nuclear bomb on the black market, his services are more than necessary to Morgan Freeman, who is a high ranking official in the CIA. In order to track it down, Freeman and Affleck go through a series of events leading up to one thing...a very large explosion. That's right, you've all seen the previews and there will be no deception from me. Baltimore goes up like a frog on a hot plate. That is only the beginning though so no more peeks for you. This isn't Freeman's best work but he does gun it pretty good. Affleck, who is my favorite up-and-coming actor, does a really good job however. If you rate this movie off it's drama then it won't be very high, but it's suspense is definately it's most powerful weapon. Some of the best suspense I've ever seen in a movie. Combined with great direction and two star actors, you've got a four-star movie. There were a few parts in the movie that were rather unrealistic. Like in a sequence where the Russians attack an American aircraft carrier. Also, the way the Russians can detect our B-2 advanced stealth bombers. Sorry, no-way no-how. That and the lack of any real good drama prevent me from ever giving it five stars, but the suspense was just that good. Four stars four Freeman and Affleck.
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