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Sum of All Fears, The
Paramount // PG-13 // October 29, 2002
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The latest installment in the sequence of movies based on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, The Sum of All Fears is an movie that almost puts all the elements together to be a great action film, one that gives the viewers' brains a workout along with their adrenaline glands. The key word, however, is "almost." The Sum of All Fears has several pieces of the puzzle in play, but several more are missing that are necessary to create a great picture.
One of the things I liked most about The Sum of All Fears is how points up the dangers inherent in the game of international brinkmanship. The Sum of All Fears sets up a situation in which the U.S. and Russia are drawn unwillingly into a situation where each is forced to keep upping the ante in a game that neither wants to play. One action leads to a reaction, which in turn leads to a stronger reaction... There's nothing in place to prevent the whole thing from falling down like a row of dominoes, with the final domino being war. It's a frightening thought, the idea that the many layers upon layers of "security protocols" and "possible responses" could be triggered in such a way as to spiral out of control.
I also found the cinematography in The Sum of All Fears to be a bit more imaginative than the norm for an action film. For instance, every time the story jumps to a different location, we see it first as a satellite photograph, whether it's Israel or Baltimore, Maryland; the effect is simultaneously to give a strategist's viewpoint (far above the tiny specks that are actual human beings) and to remind us that seen from space, there are no national or political boundaries; wars are fought over concepts that are entirely invented by the people who live there.
What's lacking, however, is a decent plot to bring everything together; what we get in The Sum of All Fears is both weak in content and rather poorly executed. The story itself is oddly shallow, given the attention to detail that's evident in setting up the confrontational relationship between the U.S. and Russia; we get a plot straight out of any James Bond film, concocted by barely sketched-in "bad guys" who come across as mere puppet masters pulling the strings. Yes, we learn that it's a neo-Nazi conspiracy to gain world power, but that's about as deep as it gets; it's as if invoking the word "Nazi" is intended to supply all the context for these characters. It doesn't, and without any development of either their plans or their organization, the villains lack credibility as antagonists.
Given that the plot is weak to begin with, it doesn't help that the pacing is off as well. The first half of the film moves forward slowly but steadily, developing certain facts of the situation between Russia and the United States, but in retrospect, it's all just establishment of the setting. The real plot of the film, involving a hunt for the location and past history of a rogue nuclear bomb, is crammed into the last part of the film in a hurried manner; in the climax of the story, fact after fact is revealed with minimal context.
One major change from the novel is that Jack Ryan is here presented as a young man at the beginning of his career, not the experienced CIA advisor that he is in the novel and in the other movies. To a certain extent, having a young Ryan makes sense: it allows for a fresh perspective, a sense of wonder as Ryan meets the head of the CIA or the president for the first time, makes rookie mistakes, and so on. It also aids plot development, in the sense that the older Ryan has such stature that it would take an artificially convoluted plot to prevent him from straightening out the situation right away. ("Mr. President, Jack Ryan has saved the world on five separate occasions now, including last Tuesday; I think we should take his advice." "Good idea." End credits roll.)
However, the way the younger Ryan is handled in The Sum of All Fears makes an absolute hash of the internal chronology of the Ryan movies. If one follows the dates presented in the film, it takes place in 2002. It thus makes absolutely no sense to have a Ryan who is younger than in earlier films that take place pre-2000. There's no reason why a different character couldn't have been used instead of Ryan, except that then there wouldn't have been the instant name recognition of "a Jack Ryan movie" ... so the filmmakers were trying to have their cake and eat it too. Viewers who aren't familiar with the earlier films won't be bothered by this detail, but to me it seemed like sloppy workmanship.
There is also, of course, the question of how is Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan. He does a perfectly fine, if not outstanding job; he handles the character better than Harrison Ford, who came across as too stuffy, but not as well as Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October, which remains, not surprisingly, my favorite by far of Clancy's film projects.
Video
The Sum of All Fears is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer that looks good on most counts, but has a couple of failings. The first problem is the presence of edge enhancement, which definitely detracts from the overall sharpness of the image. The second is the contrast. The black areas in the image are very deep and dark, which looks good in moderation, but in this case it's overdone: many scenes are overly dark, with large areas completely lacking in detail if the light level is low. Apart from that, the image looks good, with a nice, clean print and attractive colors in the well-lit scenes.
Audio
The Sum of All Fears' Dolby 5.1 track does a great job of putting the viewer right in the middle of the action. The side and rear channels are used extensively throughout the film to provide an immersive audio environment that's quite impressive in several scenes, including a crowded stadium, wind and rain, and explosions. Even when there's a lot of action going on in the background, dialogue and effects are nice and clear, making for a pleasing audio experience.
Extras
There's a nice selection of special features for this film: a set of informative featurettes on casting, production, and visual effects, and a trailer. There are also two separate audio commentary tracks: one from director Phil Alden Robinson and cinematographer John Lindley, and another from Robinson and writer Tom Clancy.
Final thoughts
The Sum of All Fears made for an entertaining evening's viewing, but ultimately it left me unsatisfied. It's a glossy, good-looking production, but the plot is thin and lacking in credibility or suspense. Fans of the genre, or of the earlier Ryan films, will probably want to check it out as a rental rather than a purchase.
One of the things I liked most about The Sum of All Fears is how points up the dangers inherent in the game of international brinkmanship. The Sum of All Fears sets up a situation in which the U.S. and Russia are drawn unwillingly into a situation where each is forced to keep upping the ante in a game that neither wants to play. One action leads to a reaction, which in turn leads to a stronger reaction... There's nothing in place to prevent the whole thing from falling down like a row of dominoes, with the final domino being war. It's a frightening thought, the idea that the many layers upon layers of "security protocols" and "possible responses" could be triggered in such a way as to spiral out of control.
I also found the cinematography in The Sum of All Fears to be a bit more imaginative than the norm for an action film. For instance, every time the story jumps to a different location, we see it first as a satellite photograph, whether it's Israel or Baltimore, Maryland; the effect is simultaneously to give a strategist's viewpoint (far above the tiny specks that are actual human beings) and to remind us that seen from space, there are no national or political boundaries; wars are fought over concepts that are entirely invented by the people who live there.
What's lacking, however, is a decent plot to bring everything together; what we get in The Sum of All Fears is both weak in content and rather poorly executed. The story itself is oddly shallow, given the attention to detail that's evident in setting up the confrontational relationship between the U.S. and Russia; we get a plot straight out of any James Bond film, concocted by barely sketched-in "bad guys" who come across as mere puppet masters pulling the strings. Yes, we learn that it's a neo-Nazi conspiracy to gain world power, but that's about as deep as it gets; it's as if invoking the word "Nazi" is intended to supply all the context for these characters. It doesn't, and without any development of either their plans or their organization, the villains lack credibility as antagonists.
Given that the plot is weak to begin with, it doesn't help that the pacing is off as well. The first half of the film moves forward slowly but steadily, developing certain facts of the situation between Russia and the United States, but in retrospect, it's all just establishment of the setting. The real plot of the film, involving a hunt for the location and past history of a rogue nuclear bomb, is crammed into the last part of the film in a hurried manner; in the climax of the story, fact after fact is revealed with minimal context.
One major change from the novel is that Jack Ryan is here presented as a young man at the beginning of his career, not the experienced CIA advisor that he is in the novel and in the other movies. To a certain extent, having a young Ryan makes sense: it allows for a fresh perspective, a sense of wonder as Ryan meets the head of the CIA or the president for the first time, makes rookie mistakes, and so on. It also aids plot development, in the sense that the older Ryan has such stature that it would take an artificially convoluted plot to prevent him from straightening out the situation right away. ("Mr. President, Jack Ryan has saved the world on five separate occasions now, including last Tuesday; I think we should take his advice." "Good idea." End credits roll.)
However, the way the younger Ryan is handled in The Sum of All Fears makes an absolute hash of the internal chronology of the Ryan movies. If one follows the dates presented in the film, it takes place in 2002. It thus makes absolutely no sense to have a Ryan who is younger than in earlier films that take place pre-2000. There's no reason why a different character couldn't have been used instead of Ryan, except that then there wouldn't have been the instant name recognition of "a Jack Ryan movie" ... so the filmmakers were trying to have their cake and eat it too. Viewers who aren't familiar with the earlier films won't be bothered by this detail, but to me it seemed like sloppy workmanship.
There is also, of course, the question of how is Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan. He does a perfectly fine, if not outstanding job; he handles the character better than Harrison Ford, who came across as too stuffy, but not as well as Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October, which remains, not surprisingly, my favorite by far of Clancy's film projects.
Video
The Sum of All Fears is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer that looks good on most counts, but has a couple of failings. The first problem is the presence of edge enhancement, which definitely detracts from the overall sharpness of the image. The second is the contrast. The black areas in the image are very deep and dark, which looks good in moderation, but in this case it's overdone: many scenes are overly dark, with large areas completely lacking in detail if the light level is low. Apart from that, the image looks good, with a nice, clean print and attractive colors in the well-lit scenes.
Audio
The Sum of All Fears' Dolby 5.1 track does a great job of putting the viewer right in the middle of the action. The side and rear channels are used extensively throughout the film to provide an immersive audio environment that's quite impressive in several scenes, including a crowded stadium, wind and rain, and explosions. Even when there's a lot of action going on in the background, dialogue and effects are nice and clear, making for a pleasing audio experience.
Extras
There's a nice selection of special features for this film: a set of informative featurettes on casting, production, and visual effects, and a trailer. There are also two separate audio commentary tracks: one from director Phil Alden Robinson and cinematographer John Lindley, and another from Robinson and writer Tom Clancy.
Final thoughts
The Sum of All Fears made for an entertaining evening's viewing, but ultimately it left me unsatisfied. It's a glossy, good-looking production, but the plot is thin and lacking in credibility or suspense. Fans of the genre, or of the earlier Ryan films, will probably want to check it out as a rental rather than a purchase.
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