Review: Devil May Cry for Movies on GamePro.com.

OMG!!!

FEATURED GAME

Caribbean Hideaway

QUICK POLL

Grand Theft Auto IV: does it live up to the hype?

THE GAMEPROS

FREE NEWSLETTERS

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Review: The Sum of All Fears

Review by STARDINGO | 05/31/2002 | 09:47:22 AM PST

Ben Affleck is the only thing keeping Russia, the United States, and a wayward nuclear weapon from colliding headlong. Is our doom inevitable?

I don?t know if it?s my place to say whether a movie like Sum of All Fears is appropriate, inappropriate, terrifying, or prophetic in these post nine-eleven days?so I won?t. The eleventh of September made us see a lot of things differently, and I think whether Ben Affleck?s latest movie gets shelved as ?Political Thriller? or ?Horror? may very well be the lowest rung on the Ladder of Things That Really Matter. This is a movie about terrorists, political mechanizations, misunderstandings, and a world on the brink of nuclear war. It treads on the same territory covered by classics like Fail-Safe and Three Days of the Condor, eerily apocalyptic films that essentially remind us that while we?re worried about football and Christmas lights, a microscopic handful of highly stressed individuals are worried about making sure none of that stuff blows up. Scary then. Scary now. All that?s really changed is proof that it can happen?not that we didn?t know it all along.

The setup: Russia is on the brink of political meltdown; tensions between the Russians and the U.S. are running on Xtra Hot. A wayward, long-lost nuclear bomb has fallen into the hands of some highly unsavory individuals with highly unpopular political motives, and they plan on using the fragile bomb/Russia/U.S. triad as the catalyst for an explosive, world-changing event. Enter Jack Ryan, Morgan Freeman, Liev Schreiber and a number of other charismatic individuals to help sort out the mess others have gotten them into.

Sum of All Fears is a (mostly) great movie, a tense and believable tale delivered with authority and dignity by actors like Morgan Freeman and James Cromwell and taut restraint by director Phil Alden Robinson. It builds nicely, moves along with a constant nervous energy, and pays off where it really matters. [Spoiler warning ahoy!?Steer clear of the rest of this paragraph if you plan on seeing the film.] The film?s pivotal scene?where the Super Bowl is struck with a nuclear bomb that wipes out half of an American City?is as shocking, unexpected, and (above all) tastefully handled a ?key scene? as you could hope for. There?s no orgiastic symphony of destruction a la Independence Day here?but you get the point, and it hits you loud and hard.

Ben Affleck plays Tom Clancy character mainstay Jack Ryan, a role occupied at one point in film history by Alec Baldwin and at two points by Harrison Ford. Clancy enthusiasts may take offense to the replacement of Ford with Affleck, but I guarantee no one else will know the difference, or care: This is the not the same Jack Ryan who how dare you sir?ed the President in Clear and Present Danger, or who hunted down the Red October?Fears takes place (in spirit if not in time) at a much earlier point in Ryan?s life. At least, I think it does. I certainly know it doesn?t really matter. All you need to know is that here, Ryan rests somewhere between high-level CIA intern and low-level intelligence lackey, a guy who monitors tapes of Russian officials to watch for signs of impending heart attacks, then nearly-anonymously reports about to people who matter...and that his knowledge eventually pulls him deep into the process of saving the world.

My biggest complaint with the film comes with how the final resolution comes about: For most of its length, Sum of All Fears manages to rise above its god-granted place as overblown political disaster thriller by maintaining an appropriate level of realism and restraint, opting out of clich?s whenever possible, and presenting characters and situations in believable ways. The end, however, resolves matters with a feverish run through fiery streets, a last-second aversion of disaster through knowledge of an incidental personality quirk, and a series of coincidences that don?t mesh with the other believable goodness. Jack Ryan becomes the focus when he should not be; and the fragile balance Fears struck for its first two-thirds cannot be maintained.

Otherwise, Sum of All Fears is one of the most complete, well-wrangled ?political thrillers? to come down the Hollywood pipe in a long while, and hopefully that will draw some attentive eyes and ears at the box office this weekend despite the kinda touchy/holy territory it skirts along. Personally, I think we need movies like this to come along every 9 ? 12 months. Because people forget. Because that?s what people do.