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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Great Film overall

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I remember really wanting to see this movie when I saw the trailer back in 2002. I finally got around to watching it this morning. It's been predictably slammed by the book brigade and those with an unhealthy hatred for Ben Affleck. I thought it was ok, but nothing spectacular. A film where a nuclear bomb explodes on mainland America should have felt more dramatic. I thought that part was relatively weak. Still worth a watch. It made me ponder about the human race.

Surprisingly, The Sum Of All Fears is my favourite film version of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. Alec Baldwin did a bang up job in the superb Hunt For Red October, Harrison Ford held his in two beyond excellent entries, and we won't speak of the Chris Pine/Keira Knightley snooze-palooza from a few years back. Why then do I gravitate towards this Ben Affleck incarnation? Who knows. Battfleck himself makes an adequate, inquisitive Ryan, on the younger end of the rope and under the guidance of CIA Yoda Morgan Freeman. I think it's the early 00's tone of the film itself though, the whip smart editing, Bourne-style escalation of suspense and terrific ensemble cast, a hallmark among Clancy films. Affleck embodies a younger, inexperienced Ryan whose infamous intuition is just breaching the surface of his character, right on time for a deadly plot to set off a nuclear device on American soil. A German radical (Alan Bates, underplaying evil nicely) with vague ties to a Neo Nazi faction is cooking up a false flag attack against Russia, using a long dormant warhead supplied by arch mercenary Colm Feore. Or at least I think that's the crux of it, these cloak and dagger affairs can get pretty dense on you sometimes. There's a sense of global danger though, a level of stress that ratchets up until even the stoic US President (an explosive James Cromwell) begins to lose it. The Russian President (Ciaran Hinds) gravely tries to sort out the misunderstanding, whilst Clancy staple character John Clark (Liev Schreiber gives Willem Dafoe a run for his money) covertly smokes out conspirators. Unease and tension nestle into the narrative, and when that impending disaster is minutes away during a hectic NFL game, you can feel the suspense in the air. The supporting cast is rich with talent including Michael Byrne, Bruce McGill, Philip Baker Hall, Josef Sommer, Ron Rifkin, Lisa Gay Hamilton and gorgeous Bridget Moynahan as Ryan's fiancé. I've got nothing but love for Red October, Patriot Hames and Clear & Present Danger, but something about this one hit a frequency and resonated with me a little better, coming out on top as the most re-watchable, enjoyable entry.

(Originally reviewed: 29/03/2017) What could have been a mindless, assault on the ears like a Michael Bay film actually turned out as well crafted, fairly intelligent thriller, that can outcome its flaws by not barraging the audience with sequences of constant destruction, Screenwriters Daniel Pyne, Paul Attanasio and director Phil Robinson have treaded carefully and the result is an effective, well-made picture. The special effects and the sound editing are fairly decent and the cast is full of respectable actors like Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman and Bridget Moynahan (The Recruit) and each performance is pretty good. Also among the cast are James Cromwell (L.A Confidential), Liev Schreiber (Ransom) and Lisa Gay Hamilton (Contact).The story is fairly simple, and though there are one or two unnecessary side plot's, the main story is engaging and always interesting, Affleck play's Jack Ryan, an ex-military man, now historian who help's figure out what's going on, he basically helps the CIA, and his girlfriend played by Bridget Moynahan (Cathy Muller), a nurse at a Baltimore hospital is basically there too create a decent romance, and later on treat the injured people of the nuclear attack, and is also adequate, Freeman plays DCI William Cabot, the right hand man of the president, and as usual is effortlessly compelling, Cromwell play's the president, very well, Live Schreiber play's secret operative John Clark, a mysterious character with an unknown background, he is working for Cabot and Schreiber really does give a solid performance here, he's perfectly cast. Lisa Gay Hamilton play's a presidential member of staff and she's brief but effective. In truth there's plenty of adequate performances here, it would take ages to name everyone.However there were some things that just didn't work like a subplot that hints at Affleck's character being responsible for handing the weapons over to the real bombers, but it's a mere accusation that never goes anywhere, it felt slightly incoherent and was so brief that even the main story ignored going any further with it. Another is a close up of a cigarette machine that is wired with explosives, yet it's never seen again in the picture, so I'm guessing they forgot about it and opted not to use it, but yet it was also unnecessary to be there in the first place, last but not least is the villain, he has no character development at all, you see him briefly but not much is known about him except a name, he barely has any screen time, which is fairly surprising, and it would have been more interesting to know who was responsible and what their motives were for performing such a terrible crime, all there is in this department, is to assume he's under orders, and is working for these evil eastern European politicians.It would have been nice for a bit more insight into parts of the story, but for what it's worth the film brushes off these holes and delivers a well thought out climax that makes enough sense to easily be worth recommending. I'll concede the film isn't that enjoyable but it has hints of amusing, appropriate humour in the first half such as another 007 reference, and a scene where Freeman tells Affleck to tell his girlfriend that he's working for the CIA in which she hangs up and Freeman laughs, as they both know she isn't going to accept that as a believable excuse for him missing there dinner reservation that was due that night. But after that there's scenes of sadness including a football stadium being reduced to dust, in which many people lose their lives, and other scenes of disaster like the deaths of major character's and scenes of discomfort, but at least it's purpose is not to produce mindless entertainment out of a tragic event, like I said earlier Phil Robinson and Daniel Pyne ensure the film is serious, tense and carefully executed, which is one of the reasons it's worth seeing, it's not a clichéd, braindead action film, despite having one or two clichés of course, it's more of a serviceable thriller that possesses political insight, good performances and a satisfying, well-crafted conclusion.

Based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Tom Clancy, this is an extremely effective and compelling thriller. Since it has received some fairly mediocre reviews, my hopes were not particularly high but it turned out to be hugely enjoyable. In all honesty, I would have preferred a third Harrison Ford film rather than a reboot but it is at least a slick and well made one. Although it was filmed before 9/11, it is notable as being the first major Hollywood film on the subject of terrorism to be released after it. It has a very clever script by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne. Phil Alden Robinson's direction is very good, which surprised since he is not exactly known as an action director.The film has been criticised by many people as being very difficult to follow but I can't really see why. It is admittedly complex and you have to pay attention in order to understand everything but I'd take that over a film where I can mess around on my phone for most of it and still understand it perfectly any day of the week. It opens with an Israeli plane being shot down over the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 and the consequent loss of one of its nuclear weapons. In September 2002, the bomb is discovered by scrap metal merchants and sold to an arms dealer for a pittance. He then sells it to an Austrian neo-Nazi named Richard Dressler, who intends to use it to start a nuclear war between the US and Russia which will leave Europe as a fascist superstate under his control. To that end, the bomb is detonated at a sports stadium in Baltimore in the hope of placing the blame squarely on Russia. At one point, Dressler says that Hitler's biggest mistake was going to war with both the US and Russia instead of setting them against each other and it is hard to disagree with that. Of course, if a plot like Dressler's were ever enacted successfully, Europe would undoubtedly be devastated as well but never mind that!The film stars Ben Affleck as the third actor to play Jack Ryan. He does not have the same easy charm as Alec Baldwin and particularly Harrison Ford but he is nevertheless convincing in the role. Affleck will never be Laurence Olivier but he is a likable actor with a good screen presence. In this film, Ryan is younger than in the three previous ones and has only been working at the CIA for 14 months. He moves up in the world when his prediction that Alexander Nemerov would succeed the hard-drinking Boris Yeltsin-esque Russian President Zorkin proves to be correct after the latter's death. Having written a paper on Nemerov, he is an expert on the new President and correctly believes that he is not a militant hardliner but merely adopts that role in order to save face. After the bomb explodes in Baltimore, Ryan desperately tries to contact US President J. Robert Fowler to prevent him from launching a nuclear attack on the Russian Federation before he eventually contacts Nemerov personally. Ryan's one man mission to escape the partially irradiated Baltimore and stop World War III may be a little far-fetched but it operates on film logic as opposed to real world logic.The always excellent Morgan Freeman is perfectly cast as CIA Director William Cabot, who becomes a friend and mentor to Ryan as the film progresses. Ciarán Hinds is fantastic in the role of the moderate Nemerov, basically a post-Communist Gorbachev. As his name would suggest, Hinds is not of Russian descent but he had to learn pages of Russian dialogue for the film, which could not have been easy. However, he delivers every line in a very natural, believable manner. James Cromwell is very good as President Fowler, a good and decent man who has no desire to start a war but believes that he must in order not to look weak in the eyes of America's enemies. The extremely heated discussions between Fowler and his senior staff are very compelling and I imagine that such conversations would be conducted in the same manner in reality. One of the reasons that these scenes are so effective is that actors of the calibre of Philip Baker Hall, Ron Rifkin and Bruce McGill were cast as the key members of his staff. In one of his final films before his death in 2003, Alan Bates is suitably creepy as Dressler, who was possibly named after Anton Drexler (the founder of what eventually became the Nazi Party). Bridget Moynahan is perfectly fine as Cathy Muller but she has no chemistry with Affleck and her scenes are too brief for her to make much of an impression. Of the five "Jack Ryan" films, "Patriot Games" is the only one that really gave Cathy a chance to shine. Other than the actors that I have already mentioned, I was very impressed by Michael Byrne (who also appeared in the similar but less effective Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies"), Colm Feore (who later popped up as a different character in the franchise's second reboot "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit") and Ken Jenkins. However, Liev Schrieber, who is not a very good actor, was pretty boring as John Clark, particularly compared to Willem Dafoe's interpretation of the character in "Clear and Present Danger".Overall, this is a very exciting thriller that it is far better than it is made out to be. Another "Jack Ryan" film starring Affleck would have been welcome. I have greatly enjoyed this series, the closest thing to an American version of the Bond films that I have come across.