Starting in the 1980s, the novels of Tom Clancy proved to be massive bestsellers. In the 1990s, Hollywood made a trilogy of blockbuster films from three of them, seeing first Alex Baldwin and then Harrison Ford take on the role of dauntless CIA analyst turned occasional man of action Jack Ryan. Yet, after 1994's Clear and Present Danger, the film series stalled. After eight years, though, Ryan returned to the cinema in a new, younger form, with an adaptation of Clancy's The Sum of All Fears.
That new, younger Ryan was Ben Affleck. Following in the footsteps of Baldwin and Ford was a large order and one that Affleck, on the back of a string of successes, should have been able to fill. Instead, Affleck comes across as rather bland in this part, despite the good looks and intelligence he has. It's a performance that traverses between the extremes of being ineffectively wooden and cringeworthingly shouty. The scene in the White House Situation Room about midway through the film perfectly demonstrates the issues with Affleck's Ryan. Where Affleck is more successful in his interactions with Morgan Freeman's CIA director early on, or in his scenes with Bridget Moynahan as Cathy, where he can play either the fish out of water or charming boyfriend. So, while he might have been Clancy's favorite of the initial trio of Ryan actors, Affleck's Ryan comes across the weakest of the screen Ryans to date.
In some ways, it might be a case that Affleck had a cast around him that highlighted the problems with his performance. Freeman's CIA director Bill Cabot isn't a flashy role, by any means, but one which he imbues with a sense of presence and authority. James Cromwell's President Fowler offers the character actor a meaty role, one which explores the different facets of decision making both at times of peace and crisis, with Cromwell bringing presence and humanity to his performance. The film also proved the Hollywood breakthrough for Irish actor Ciarán Hinds, playing the Russian leader Nemerov in a role that could have been a walking cliche but, instead, Hinds brings a sense of humanity to as a man trying to avert crisis beyond his control. Bringing to life new versions of Clancy's characters are Bridget Moynahan as Ryan's girlfriend Cathy and Liev Schreiber as agent in the field John Clark, and it remains a shame that this would prove to be their only times in the roles. With the cast being rounded off by character actors including Michael Byrne, Philip Baker Hall, Alan Bates, and Bruce McGill, it's as strong a cast as any of the Ryan outings before it.
Beyond the cast, there's certainly plenty to recommend in terms of the actual production. Phil Alden Robinson proved an inspired choice for director, assembling a first-rate crew including cinematographer John Lindley. Between them, and the production design of Jeannine Oppewall, capture the behind the scenes, "you are there" feel of Clancy's novels and earlier films. The visual effects work on the film, some subtle in addition to more apparent sequences, come across well and have aged nicely, with the nuclear bomb detonation midway through being the film's set-piece. Finally, Jerry Goldsmith, in one of his last works, delivered a thoughtful and suspenseful score, one which highlighted growing tensions but also the hope potentially lost in the chaos. There's little doubt, then, that Sum of All Fears was well-made.
Perhaps the biggest problem the film has lies in its script and, consequently, in its pacing. Taking an 800+ page Clancy novel and turning it into something that runs two hours is not an enviable task, in the slightest. Even more so when one is both updating one published a decade earlier in a very different political climate and placing it far sooner in your lead character's timeline. The result is a functional adaptation of the novel, albeit one that feels like a Cliffnotes version of it, perhaps suggesting what it needed was a miniseries rather than a feature film. In doing so, the screenwriters left the film crammed to the gills with plot. In part, because the first half has to establish, in a somewhat convincing fashion, how tensions between the US and Russia in the post-Cold War era so quickly that they can lead to the brink of nuclear war in the second half. The result is a film that feels oddly slow in its first half in places, but with the back half having too much going on, racing from place to place. Something which left Clancy fans annoyed (and the author himself to obverse on the audio commentary that he was the author of "the book the director ignored."), and baffled many viewers unfamiliar with the book, ultimately serving neither audience well.
In the end, The Sum of All Fears proved not to be the sum of its parts. For as strong as aspects of it were, overcoming its lead actor or the issues in scripting and pacing. In a way, it's a shame that this proved to be a stillbirth for the revived franchise, which saw another reboot attempt before it moved to the small screen. Then again, given Affleck's lackluster Ryan, maybe we should be grateful that we're left with a film full of moments, but ultimately the sum of unrealized potential.
That new, younger Ryan was Ben Affleck. Following in the footsteps of Baldwin and Ford was a large order and one that Affleck, on the back of a string of successes, should have been able to fill. Instead, Affleck comes across as rather bland in this part, despite the good looks and intelligence he has. It's a performance that traverses between the extremes of being ineffectively wooden and cringeworthingly shouty. The scene in the White House Situation Room about midway through the film perfectly demonstrates the issues with Affleck's Ryan. Where Affleck is more successful in his interactions with Morgan Freeman's CIA director early on, or in his scenes with Bridget Moynahan as Cathy, where he can play either the fish out of water or charming boyfriend. So, while he might have been Clancy's favorite of the initial trio of Ryan actors, Affleck's Ryan comes across the weakest of the screen Ryans to date.
In some ways, it might be a case that Affleck had a cast around him that highlighted the problems with his performance. Freeman's CIA director Bill Cabot isn't a flashy role, by any means, but one which he imbues with a sense of presence and authority. James Cromwell's President Fowler offers the character actor a meaty role, one which explores the different facets of decision making both at times of peace and crisis, with Cromwell bringing presence and humanity to his performance. The film also proved the Hollywood breakthrough for Irish actor Ciarán Hinds, playing the Russian leader Nemerov in a role that could have been a walking cliche but, instead, Hinds brings a sense of humanity to as a man trying to avert crisis beyond his control. Bringing to life new versions of Clancy's characters are Bridget Moynahan as Ryan's girlfriend Cathy and Liev Schreiber as agent in the field John Clark, and it remains a shame that this would prove to be their only times in the roles. With the cast being rounded off by character actors including Michael Byrne, Philip Baker Hall, Alan Bates, and Bruce McGill, it's as strong a cast as any of the Ryan outings before it.
Beyond the cast, there's certainly plenty to recommend in terms of the actual production. Phil Alden Robinson proved an inspired choice for director, assembling a first-rate crew including cinematographer John Lindley. Between them, and the production design of Jeannine Oppewall, capture the behind the scenes, "you are there" feel of Clancy's novels and earlier films. The visual effects work on the film, some subtle in addition to more apparent sequences, come across well and have aged nicely, with the nuclear bomb detonation midway through being the film's set-piece. Finally, Jerry Goldsmith, in one of his last works, delivered a thoughtful and suspenseful score, one which highlighted growing tensions but also the hope potentially lost in the chaos. There's little doubt, then, that Sum of All Fears was well-made.
Perhaps the biggest problem the film has lies in its script and, consequently, in its pacing. Taking an 800+ page Clancy novel and turning it into something that runs two hours is not an enviable task, in the slightest. Even more so when one is both updating one published a decade earlier in a very different political climate and placing it far sooner in your lead character's timeline. The result is a functional adaptation of the novel, albeit one that feels like a Cliffnotes version of it, perhaps suggesting what it needed was a miniseries rather than a feature film. In doing so, the screenwriters left the film crammed to the gills with plot. In part, because the first half has to establish, in a somewhat convincing fashion, how tensions between the US and Russia in the post-Cold War era so quickly that they can lead to the brink of nuclear war in the second half. The result is a film that feels oddly slow in its first half in places, but with the back half having too much going on, racing from place to place. Something which left Clancy fans annoyed (and the author himself to obverse on the audio commentary that he was the author of "the book the director ignored."), and baffled many viewers unfamiliar with the book, ultimately serving neither audience well.
In the end, The Sum of All Fears proved not to be the sum of its parts. For as strong as aspects of it were, overcoming its lead actor or the issues in scripting and pacing. In a way, it's a shame that this proved to be a stillbirth for the revived franchise, which saw another reboot attempt before it moved to the small screen. Then again, given Affleck's lackluster Ryan, maybe we should be grateful that we're left with a film full of moments, but ultimately the sum of unrealized potential.