Adapted from a Tom Clancy book (which is not so much a book, more of a doorstop with 1000+ pages), this sees Ben Affleck as CIA spook Jack Ryan on his way up: when the Russian president dies, Ryan is dispatched to Russia to find out more. But then he stumbles onto a saga of missing nuclear scientists, weapons smuggling and America’s ultimate nightmare: a nuke on their own soil ready to kill millions. And its up to Affleck to save the day. And if he can’t save the day, he might just have to save the world….before it all goes up in little mushroom clouds.
I mean, Theres very few things in this post 9-11 world that can shock, apparently. This film is apparently one of them, mainly because though made, shot and 95% completed before then, it’s being accused of exploitation of that disaster due to its graphic middle section of a devastating terrorist attack on the US.
If there’s one thing America’s scared of, its that the worst – the unimaginable – might happen. That a nuke might just get smuggled into the US, that terrorists might just set it off….That makes this film a fascinating piece of sociology if nothing else. If this film failed to entertain, then that wouldn’t matter, but it does. The explosion itself is one of the biggest ‘fuck me!’ moments of modern cinema, and it’s a powerful and devastating sequence that its all too easy to criticise for being exploitational, until you realise that I)The terrorists in the film were changed from being Islamic (as in the book) to prevent uproar (the kind of uproar that saw 1998’s “the Siege” being picketed at cinemas) and ii) The book was published over 10 years ago. But of course, that’s not the point….
As spy thrillers go, This is directed with flair and as tensions continue to escalate and the world finds itself on the brink of war, it’s easy to ignore plot holes, or a complete lack of continuity : Nonetheless, what we have here is a high-class spy thriller replete with loads of detail, a genuine and palpable sense of danger and tension, and even after the films big money shot, it then cranks up the tension higher still. It’s far from a date movie, but its certainly a turning point, not simply in showing us that Ben Affleck can play a decent hero-type, but in breaking the big taboo of American cinema and here all those cliches are exploded – as is something else. Intelligent, relevant and timely, not to mention far superior to the likes of say, Spy Game or the usual churn of Hollywood no-brainer action movies, Sum Of All fears is a film that poses a big ‘What if?’ that will resonate in your mind long after the final reel. And that’s far more than the next Hollywood production-line blockbuster movie will achieve….
The Sum Of All Fears
If there was REALLY a terrorist related nuclear explosion in the next few years, the repuccusions would be far more intresting, uncontrollable and worrying than anything in this film. Sorry.
Re: The Sum Of All Fears
The Bomb scenes left a lot to be desitred in terms of dealing with the aftereffects: I mean, affleck should be dead by the time he gets to the end of the next reel with his skin falling off likea paintstripped wall .But... This has a lot mor to do with the adaption of the book again - In the book both the and the president are based in their own homes hundreds of miles away as opposed to at the bomb site when it goes off. EMP means mobile phones shouldn;t be working, etc. etc. We're not watching "protect and survive' or ' threads' or 'the day after' here, but a film in which a nuke is a plot device rather than one where the aftermath is the central issue of the film.
Look at the history of nukes going off in movies - all so far have been remote, none of which have ever gone off and shown the effects on a major US city. (T2 except, but as thats a fantasy / dream sequence, and so the viewer can exercise the power of denial and make-believe/; we are told that this might happen, not that it does). True Lies had one going off 17 miles off the US coast - obviously Cameron was too chicken to do a proper US mainland nuke in there. Thus the use of the nuke and the nuking of Baltimore is a very very significant taboo in americna city - the demonstration of the most terrible terror attack on the US mainland imaginable. imagine how that feels to a hyper-sensitive country in this post 9-11 times. the concept of 'blowback' (ie its a US military bomb from US funded sources , that is used against the US) is shocking enough to the US mindset....
The films works very well on a dramatic level, and should be commended for having the guts to show a nuke goign off in the way it does. But, the main problem I fear would be that to most people, it might seem incredulous, whereas to those who follow these issues closely don't find the idea at all surprising.Perhaps the most surprising thing within the intellignece community is the fact it hasn't happened yet...
Of course if it were to happen, I doubt very much they'd be a real life Jack Ryan to save the day. Or a world worth living in afterwards, thanks to the hothead Bush. (You can't doubt that eh leads with his heart, not his head). or that the freedoms as outlined in the US constition would exist in anythign other than academic form, that the US would be reduced to a paranoid police state akin to Escape form New York . Escaoe from LA. But thats a whole different thread.#
Thanks for the comments