Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: It's not easy replacing Harrison Ford as a beloved screen hero, but Ben Affleck brings fresh vitality to The Sum of All Fears, reviving Paramount's Tom Clancy franchise in the role Ford made famous. As CIA agent Jack Ryan, Affleck is a rookie in the covert ranks, unraveling a plot that lures Russian and American superpowers into a nuclear standoff, while a neofascist faction turns most of Baltimore into an atomic wasteland and holds the world in the grip of a terrorist nightmare. Unfortuneately this film doesn't succeed at anything besides putting the viewer to sleep. There is very little character developement in this 2 hour long movie, and the A-BOMB sequence only lasts for about 5 seconds! Don't see this, it's not worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Aaahhhh!!!!!
Review: What a disappointment. After having viewed other Tom Clancy movies and comparing them to his novels, this movie is an insult to his work. Even more disappointing is that Tom Clancy had a hand in having his excellent novel of the same name brought to such a dismal screen production. It must have been the money because no self-respecting author would let his work be butchered so. In truth I would like to give this movie (sic!) a minus 5-star rating.
Rating:
Summary: Read the book
Review: That is pretty much all I can say. The movie totally bypasses the intended meaning of the book. Read the book and you'll understand the point that the author was trying to make.
Rating: 
Summary: I know Jack Ryan, and Ben Affleck is...
Review: ... well, not terrible. I had big reservations about seeing this film, as I had heard how much it had strayed from the book. Tom Clancy must have more money than some foreign countries. Doesn't he have enough clout to dictate a true filming of his work? Or enough money to say "Do it my way or not at all?". And to some degree I still agree with this thought. The decision to diminish the Arab role as part of the bad-guy contingent is absolutely unforgivable. What are they afraid of, that people might actually think that there are forces in the Middle East that would like to plant terror in the United States? Who could think of such a thing? No, let's put all the blame on the shoulders of those universal bad guys, the neo-Nazis. And going back in time in the Jack Ryan series was not a problem to me. But to have him just meeting his future wife is an irritation. If gives her the thankless role of playing the suffering girlfriend who sighs as her man saves the world. Finally, does anybody else notice that the proximity all our heroes are to the nuclear device means that slow death by cancer is just around the corner? All of the above in unforgivable, and yet, the novel was about more than these things. It was about the sheer ruthlessness of what some people will do to achieve their ends. This is well portrayed here, though I would have rather seen the religious fanaticism that fuels today's attacks used here. It's about the toughness of making decisions when your country has just been attacked and you have to decide how many people you're going to kill in return. And it's about the realization that even though The Cold War is over, the need for a strong military is probably necessary. Oh yes, Ben as Jack. The movie does go overboard to show his uncomfortable ness in his new role with the CIA. They didn't have to hit you over the head with this. And he seems to know a lot of things that the rest of the world doesn't. But when it gets down and dirty, he does handle the job credibly, and I wasn't prepared to say this. I think the plot changes are more serious than casting him in the role, and if they can film a truer book next time, I can accept him as a more-confident Jack next time.
Rating:
Summary: Well, ... the sound was good.
Review: Very disappointing movie. Sorry, but Ben Affleck is no Jack Ryan. In fact, Ben Affleck isn't much of anything. What next? Michael Jackson as James Bond?
Rating: 
Summary: Way to go, Ben!!
Review: I've long been a fan of Tom Clancy's novels, and when The Sum of All Fears came out as a movie, I had to go see it because I hadn't seen a Jack Ryan film in a long time (I'd watched The Hunt for Red October once in the theater and numerous times on video, but Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger were just plain boring). Let me tell you, from the first minute I was HOOKED! The Sum of All Fears had everything that the last two movies lacked--a good potboiler of a plot, lots of action, and an awesome new Jack Ryan in Ben Affleck, who made the character very believable and human. This movie had a great cast of supporting actors as well. I loved seeing Morgan Freeman as Bill Cabot, Ryan's boss at the CIA, and James Cromwell as the President. Liev Schreiber as Clark was terrific--he has matured quite nicely as an actor since playing Cotton Weary in the Scream trilogy. Bridget Moynahan did a nice job as Cathy Muller, Ryan's girlfriend, and it was nice to see actor Michael Byrne as Grushkov. One of the things that I really like about the DVD release of The Sum of All Fears is the fact that instead of releasing a "bare bones" version (in other words, no extras) like they usually do, Paramount went all out and included stuff that provides a fascinating look into the making of the film as well as the thoughts of those involved with it. There are 2 tracks of commentaries--one with director Phil Alden Robinson and the cinematographer, and one with Robinson and Tom Clancy, as well as a 2-part making of documentary that goes into some of the reasons they decided to restart the franchise and cast a younger actor in the role of Jack Ryan (for those of you out there who didn't like Ben Affleck as Ryan, blame Sherry Lansing, CEO of Paramount's movie division--it was her idea to cast him) and a visual effects section with commentary on how they filmed some of the scenes. There is also a theatrical trailer. While the extras aren't as abundant as on other DVDs, this is a nice surprise from a studio that is normally loath to put extras on their DVDs at all because of the cost of including them (as a matter of fact, Paramount usually won't include extras unless the director insists on it). IMO, The Sum of All Fears is a great film, and a nice way to revitalize the Jack Ryan franchise.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to follow at times
Review: Perhaps I should have read the book first. Usually I do and I've very much enjoyed the novels and movies starring the Jack Ryan character in the past. This time, I didn't get to the novel and instead saw the film and was disappointed. Aside from the complex plot with characters (especially the bad guys) that you never get to know or therefore care about, the dialogue in the movie was horrible done. I could never hear half of what they were muttering, in badly done accents no less. Morgan's talent was wasted in the movie and Ben Affleck just wasn't convincing as either a reluctant spy in the making or a brilliant hero. He'd have done better to strike a pose and go with it. Too wishy-washy. This movie was another example of trying to do too much with the lengthy material.
Rating:
Summary: Fast but weak
Review: I did not see The Sum of All Fears in theater and watched it on video for the first time last night. Although I came to it without any preconceived notions, having not even seen a trailer or read the book, I remember Jack Ryan well from The Hunt For Red October and was shocked by the way he was washed down in this movie. How did he get so young? What happened to his family? Since when did he become a rookie? Have we been shot back in time thirty years? As for the plot, it was reduced to the point of childish simplicity, and the reduction rendered it barely credible. The reasons for the rebel nuclear attack on the U.S. were never fully explained. And how did the President and Jack Ryan, among others, escape after the bombing without suffering from radiation poisoning? And why, oh why, is Ryan, portrayed as a mere rookie in this movie, the only person willing to seek the truth? This is nuclear warfare, for crying out loud. We don't launch bombs at the drop of a hat. Although the acting was decent -- Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan, Morgan Freeman as a senior CIA agent, and Liev Schreiber as a covert CIA agent were performed especially well -- the characters were left paper shallow, as undeveloped as the plot. While it's admittedly difficult to reduce any Clancy book to a couple of hours screen time, but I felt the screen writers could have done a better job. Can I recommend this movie? If you like war and action and Ben Affleck and aren't too worried about details, probably. But if you're a huge Clancy fan, you'll be better off sticking with the book. This version of The Sum of All Fears doesn't do the author justice.
Rating:
Summary: A fantasy to detract from the reality
Review: I almost never give a movie one star, but what a load of garbage! Ben Affleck is a poor replacement for Harrison Ford. Nick Chinlund would have been way better. And the decision to re-create Ryan into a young rookie, without setting the story in the past (it could have worked!), was just unforgiveable. The continuity of the Jack Ryan films is just tossed out in the rush to make a quick buck.
That aside, I'm glad to see other people were shaking their heads at why Hollywood decided to change the villains from the Tom Clancy novel, making them into easily-hated neo-Nazis. An attempt at political correctness, perhaps, a soothing of ruffled feathers, an attempt to downplay the reality of Arab terrorism. What could have been a timely (and prophetic) film, was turned into a liberal appeasement fest.
I understand why Morgan Freeman wanted his character to be killed off so he wouldn't have to do a sequel, considering the awful direction the Jack Ryan movie mythos have gone in. I wasted my money seeing this schlock.
Rating:
Summary: What Happened?
Review: I read a great book once called "The Sum of All Fears" which was about a plot by Middle Eastern terrorists to set off a nuclear device in the United States and trigger World War III. I was really excited when I heard this movie was coming out in 2002. I was less excited when I heard more about the movie. I finally decided to buy this on pay cable a couple of months ago. Well, replace Middle Eastern terrorists with "neo-fascists", replace Jack Ryan, seasoned NSA analyst with Jack Ryan, young NSA rookie and you've got the differences in the movie and the film. It looks like political correctness just ran wild all over this movie. The idea of "neo-fascist" terrorists just doesn't hold any water in this day and age. If this was meant to be a topical realistic thriller, they pretty much blew it right there. But as a pure adrenaline rush of a film, "Sum of All Fears" does work, even if you already saw "that scene" in the trailer and have heard about it. Takes my breath away. And knowing that something like that could be planted, not by silly neo-fascists but by Al-Qaeda, sends chills up my spine. And aside from "that scene", this is a pretty decent, somewhat intelligent semi-political thriller.
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