Before September 11, 2001, The Sum of All Fears would have been a rousing and interesting techno-thriller. Now, unfortunately, it is a reminder that the stuff in Tom Clancy’s novels isn’t as removed from reality as it once appeared to be. That is a testament to how much detail Clancy injects into his writing and also to how vulnerable we have become in recent days.
The film begins with an Israeli A4 fighter carrying a single nuclear bomb crashing into the desert in 1973. Covered by the elements for 29 years, the bomb is discovered in 2001 by a man digging graves. The man, not knowing what it is, sells it to a shadowy group of rich neo-Nazi sympathizers who plan to detonate it in the United States. By implicating newly installed Russian President Alexander Nemarov (Ciaran Hinds), they can provoke an all-out war between the U.S. and Russia, which will then allow their neo-Nazi coalition to rise to power.
Neo-Nazis? Well, the villains from the original novel were changed so as not to be offensive to Islamic groups, who were the culprits in the book. Other than that seemingly out-of-date throwback, this film is frightening in its references to things we’ve heard about in recent times such as the use of the Internet to coordinate terrorist activity, bureaucracy getting in the way of details which might save lives, and discussions of all sorts of weapons technology that simply would have sounded impossibly high-tech as recently as twenty years ago.
The plotline isn’t too hard to follow although it does not explain the many techno-references at all. If you don’t know what Defcon levels are or what a Stealth bomber looks like, you may be a little lost at some of the goings-on. Ben Affleck makes a likeable Jack Ryan, replacing the older Harrison Ford, last seen in Clear and Present Danger in 1994. This film doesn’t follow the same timeline as the previous three Jack Ryan films, as the character is about 20 years younger than he was in 1990’s The Hunt for Red October but the action takes place in the present day. Clancy purists might be offended, but no one else should mind since there is no need for any background information about any of the characters involved.
My only real complaint about The Sum of All Fears is that it meticulously builds its scenario through the first two acts but the wrap-up is too forced, too fast, and too tidy, relying on coincidence and luck. While the beginning of the movie seems real and all-too-familiar, the end reminds us that this is just a film with a hero and a need to have everything turn out relatively fine. If a scenario like this ever does play out, let’s hope that we have someone like Jack Ryan on our side or we’re all toast.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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