Review of The Sum of All Fears (2002) by Bryn D — 16 Mar 2012

An intense, thrilling spy film that features some top notch performances from Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman. The Sum of All Fears is based on the best seller by Tom Clancy and is a reboot to the Jack Ryan film series, a role previously played by Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin.

Affleck steps in to play a younger more inexperienced Ryan and he was great! He had the capacity to play a CIA analyst, but also brought forth something that the previous Ryan films didn't have him do much, go into the field via a mission (scene with Liev Schreiber), Affleck was convincing, at times naive (its perfect Ryan is still young) and ultimately intelligent, even spoke Russian.

Freeman was great as the head of the CIA commanding the operation. This film is great because despite the Cold War over the tensions may still be there and can easily arise as the film shows. The threat is scary, which made for the perfect plot.

The scene of the nuclear attack was well filmed and the aftermath was handled well, along with a great ending. I wish more Jack Ryan films were green lit by Hollywood with Affleck commanding the role, to me he was the best actor to portray the character yet.