*** Official "THE SUM OF ALL FEARS" Discussion Thread (2 Viewers)

[Tino]

Reminder

Spoiler blocks are NOT required in a discussion thread.

 

[Ed Vandeweerd]

Tino,

I have not seen "Sum of all Fears" I have seen the Trailer & that was enough for me. I have also read extensive reviews on the Film. Have you seen James Brolin's Screen Test as Bond for "Live and Let Die"? Having Brolin play Bond would be like Affleck playing Ryan. Wood! Frankly I prefer to remember Ford in the role and not to go see Pretty Boy Ben kill the Franchise. I've made my point and have nothing more to say on the subject.

 

[Tino]

Yeah, why see the film and make up your own mind right? Why see any film, just read the reviews and pretend you have seen the film.:rolleyes
No offense Ed, but do you really think
passing judgement on a film you haven't seen makes any sense at all?
BTW, I have seen it and didn't like it or think Mr. Affleck was right for the role...but at least I saw it!
Yee-ikes

 

[AjayM]

Well, I enjoyed the movie as well....although I'm still a little unsure of Ben as Jack Ryan, but this script had him doing to much "super-hero" stuff, like driving around in the city, etc.

There were also some plot holes that I didn't like, as mentioned the carrier scene is a good one, where were the airborne aircraft, the military was on a higher state of alert at the moment and the carrier was within range of Soviet airbases, and then the Phalanx missle defense missing most missles was a little to much, and then the missle hitting the tower instead of targeting a much more likely place (like close to a munitions storage, etc).

Also the bomb blast, while it was done safely for viewing, explaining it wasn't done very well. In the book, the bomb was for the most part a dud and had a very small and low yield. Enough so that rescuers were finding people alive at the stadium where the bomb went off. So there wasn't tens of thousands of casulties, just a very low number.

I also wasn't happy how they short-changed the Clark character again, in the books he is one of the most interesting characters to read because he get's to do all the cloak and dagger stuff, but again in the movie it's been chopped up quite a bit. Although his presense was quite a bit better than in CAPD (although I think I like DaFoe better than Liev).

Overall I enjoyed it, but if you've read the book and expect the movie to follow it closely you will be disappointed (as you probably have been with the other Clancy movies).

Andrew

 

[David Rogers]

Hated this film, travesty of a reinterpretation from the book.

Good points:

* Ben Affleck as a young Jack Ryan - Liked him, thought he captured the 'lost-in-a-academic-world' historian air Ryan's always had extremely well. The little bits where there were action tied into the Marine background well I though, also. I suppose, however, either you like Affleck or you don't. I like him, and liked him as Ryan. I still think Alec Baldwin was the best Ryan in HFRO though, which remains, by far, the best Ryan movie, and the only one where the book wasn't butchered beyond recognition.

* Morgan Freeman as the Director of CIA. Great performance, totally in charge "Give me your coat, now the tie!" and also "I disagree, Senator. I don't think you're ugly." Didn't like his death scene at all, but I liked him in the role quite a bit.

Ciarán Hinds as Nemerov, excellent. Had the look, had the attitude and manner, played beautifully. Liked him a lot, would be cool to see him in other projects.

Bad Points:

Liev Schreiber as John Clark. No no, HELL NO. He has the vaguely 'slavic' look I've always pictured for John Clark, who's described (in part) as a man who looks like the typical Russian, particularly in the eyes. But Schreiber didn't come across as Snake, as a veteran spec-ops operator. I'll give Schreiber a little credit, he had parts of the role down; but he sure as hell didn't eminate DANGEROUS! as the books describe. I just flat out didn't buy him as Clark. The key scene that sums up my disappointment with him was the raid to the Russian bomb lab, where he's surprised by the two Ukraine soldiers and is trying to reason with them. Clark never begged, Clark never sounded hysterical or unsure. Clark was always sure, always in the know, always ready. Sorry Liev, but just didn't buy you as Clark.

Bomb: why not show the explosion? We get a grand total of five seconds of bomb effects, then 20mins of burning sets and camera filters; this is supposed to indicate to me a nuclear bomb has detonated? Colossal mistake.

Villain Change: stupid and even more stupid. Didn't add to the story, was short changed even after the switch. Beyond pathetic that the makers/studio felt it was more politically correct to use a 'harmless' villain (Nazi based) but fail to provide any sort of story structure as to why. The movie seemed to me to be like a skit at a SF Convention's Costume Contest: How can you tell the bad guys in the skit? They're wearing black, of course. Same for the SOAF movie villains; they had watches with Nazi symbols on the backs, so they must have been Evil, duh?!! (sigh

Action sequences: burning sets following the nuke were just pathetic; they LOOKED like movie sets on fire, and it played horribly. Ryan running around the nuked Baltimore having fist fights for information, stupid. They almost got the hotline scene similar to the book but not close enough after the other huge problems.

I don't mind the 'reimaging' of the series with Ryan as a young analysts again, but once more we're left asking WHY they felt the need to butcher the story from the book. Shoot what's in the book. Period. How hard is it? Otherwise why put Clancy's name on it?

Oh, that's right; because if they'd rolled this lame story out without Clancy's name on it people like me would have not even bothered. I'll tell you now though, the trailers for the next Clancy film they hack together had better make me achieve orgasmic glory right there or no way I'm buying a ticket.

TO quote Randal from Clerks, I want my seven-fifty back.

 

[AjayM]

Liev Schreiber as John Clark. No no, HELL NO. He has the vaguely 'slavic' look I've always pictured for John Clark, who's described (in part) as a man who looks like the typical Russian, particularly in the eyes. But Schreiber didn't come across as Snake, as a veteran spec-ops operator. I'll give Schreiber a little credit, he had parts of the role down; but he sure as hell didn't eminate DANGEROUS! as the books describe. I just flat out didn't buy him as Clark. The key scene that sums up my disappointment with him was the raid to the Russian bomb lab, where he's surprised by the two Ukraine soldiers and is trying to reason with them. Clark never begged, Clark never sounded hysterical or unsure. Clark was always sure, always in the know, always ready. Sorry Liev, but just didn't buy you as Clark.

I always find it interesting the different ways people view the scenes. Although I agree that Liev didn't really have the "book look" of John Clark, I didn't have a HUGE problem with that side of it. But the specific scene you mentioned I saw as him playing super-cool and level headed. He's putting on his "fear-face", while dazzling the guards eyes with his flashlight to the point he can pull out his gun and suprise the 2 guys who have an obvious tactical advantage.

I got that impression from some of the other books of course, a good scenrio is the beginning of Rainbow Six and the how Clark manages to get out of the situation he's in with the hijackers, he pretends to be a little afraid to get the bad guy to let his guard down, then pounces.

But that's just the way I saw it.

Andrew

 

[Tino]

I actually thought Liev Schreiber was one of the few (very few) bright spots in TSOAF.
Different strokes is right....

 

[Howard Williams]

I didn't enjoy this movie. I was kinda interested up until Cabot died, then everything just fell apart for me. I actually read "The Sum of All Fears" when it first came out. It was a long time ago but if I remember correctly, the bomb was a "fizzle", which meant the damage created was much smaller than expected based on the amount of Plutonium, or something little that. That was a major point in the book but only eluded to in the movie.

The attempt to provide suspense while heads of state go back and forth is an internet style chat room was very bogus.

My favorite part of the book when how Clancy described the detonation of the fizzle. I was really looking forward to seeing the split second inner working of the bomb as it went off. Oh well. A very forgettable film.

 

[Al_S]

I saw this movie this past weekend and it scared the hell out of me. This weeks news didn't help matters. I really liked the movie but right now it seems all too real.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Had this forwarded to me. For those that can't bring themselves to see SOAF, I bring you this condensed version.
From this post.

I will now attempt to explain the entire plot of "Sum of All Fears"
through condensed dialog.
*ahem*
Morgan Freeman
Your girlfriend hates you now because she thinks you lied about being in
the CIA.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Morgan Freeman
Take her to the White House. You can use Liev's tickets.
Lieve Schrieber
Dangit. I never get to go to those things.
Morgan Freeman
Jack, we're going to Russia.
Ben Affleck
There are three russian scientists who are missing.
Morgan Freeman
They're not just missing, they're GONE!
Liev Schreiber
I'm sneaking into a remote bunker to watch dogs eat the scientists
who've outlived their usefulness. Look, ballbearings.
Ben Affleck
They must have been making a bomb! NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Liev Schreiber
I'm going into the sphere.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Morgan Freeman
Let's take the President to a football game.
Liev Schreiber
The bomb is in the hands of neo-nazis. Who are not, in any way, supposed
to represent arab terrorists because it's ok to hate white guys.
Ben Affleck (over conveniently garbly satellite phone)
*kssshh*omb *ksssshh*zis *kssh*ot the russians *kssssh*altimore!
Morgan Freeman
We have to get the President away from this football game!
***Every area of Baltimore not useful to the plot is blown up. Morgan
Freeman dies because he's black and black people attract bullets,
shrapnel, radiation, and other deadly things in movies.>
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
***Ben drives into downtown Baltimore which is engulfed in radioactive flames that do not, in any way, affect cell phones or satellite-based palm pilot chat programs>
Secret Russian Spy
This is all the Americans' fault. You gave the plutonium to Israel and they lost the bomb.
James Cromwell
Let's nuke the Russians.
Ron Rifkin
30 seconds to total global annihilation.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
James Cromwell
You know, we could nuke the Russians.
Ron Rifkin
10 seconds to total global annihilation.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
James Cromwell
I'm pretty steamed up now. How about nuking the Russians?
Ron Rifkin
2 seconds to total global annihilation.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
James Cromwell
You know, I was thinking, those Russians could use a good nuking.
Ron Rifkin
.043 seconds to total global annihilation.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Generic Military Techie
Hey, let's hijack the President's hotline to Russia.
Ben Affleck
NOOOOO!!!!!!!! Wait... I mean... YEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!
Ron Rifkin
.00000042 seconds to total global annihilation.
Ciarán Hinds
Wait. We, the Russians, are willing to work with a CIA spy instead of
the US President because he was able to hijack the Presidential hotline.
We will now turn off all of our jets and bombs and robot soldiers. After
we blow up all the Germans.
All
Hoooray!
teh enb
~Steve-o

 

[Patrick Sun]

I said this in another thread, but I think I'd rather see Matt Damon playing John Clark in a film version of "Without Remorse".

 

[Marshall Alsup]

Wow, I'm in the minority here! I dug the movie quite a bit. I thought it had a bunch of tension and I was on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the flick. I enjoyed Ben Afflek. It seems that all of you that hated it disliked the differences between it and the novel. I haven't read the book (or any Clancy book) and because of this I dont really consider the Jack Ryan movies to be "together". I look at them as seperate entities that happen to have a few characters with the same name. Perhaps it was this that allowed me to enjoy the movie.

Its wierd because I usually dont deviate this far from the rest of you guys but I really did enjoy this movie and will be buying it as soon as it comes out on DVD.

I really liked John Clark. I didn't realize that it was the same character that Dafoe played in C&PD untill I read this thread. I think both versions about the same but in this movie the character was funnier.

The only problem I had was that the bomb from the Isreali (sp?) plane was just left in the desert. It seems to me that when they discovered that the plane was shot down that they would have taken steps to find the nuke so that it didn't fall into their enemy's hands.

Could you guys that have read the book elaborate a little more on who was the "bad guys" in the book. I get the impression that it was Muslim terrorists but what was there motovations in the book?

-Marshall

 

[Clint]

A little late but I saw the movie this weekend, after finished reading the book a few days back. I thought the movie was not very good, it was just OK. But the book is way, way, way better than what the movie strives to be.

Hard to believe that Clancy was the Executive Producer on this "made for HBO" type movie. The acting was wooden, the boardroom antics not very tension-filled.

To answer some questions based on the book: The Israelis did try to find the bomb, but there was a series of accidents that prevented them from even knowing that it was missing to begin with. And where it landed as time passed was eventually a farm (not a traditional farm, but a farm nonetheless), so looking for it there would seem unlikely.

As for the villains; it was more than just Muslim terrorists. I will have to say is that if you liked the movie, invest in the time to read the book. It's so superior to the movie.

 

[Rich Malloy]

I saw this movie without any axes to grind. Never read Clancy's book. Never read any book by Clancy. I've seen some of the other "Jack Ryan" movies, but none have had much impact on me, though they seemed competently constructed.

"Sum of All Fears" is such a bland by-the-numbers piece of product that it's almost impossible to hate it, and equally impossible to like it. I saw it two weeks ago and have nearly forgotten the whole thing.

I see it's making a lot of money. Ho-hum.

 

[Paul_D]

Sum of All Fears has finally arrived on English shores, and I'm very pleased to say that the sum of my fears incensed by this thread have NOT been realised. I really enjoyed the film, and even though there was a shopping list of plot points and extrodinary coincidences that sorta bothered me afterwards, moreso than any other film I've seen lately, I've been able to tuck them away and just enjoy the film on a purely aesthetic-adrenaline level. Here's some of my impressions:
* Really enjoyed Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan. With no real knowledge of his character in the book, I thought the character he created fit like a glove into the context of this story.
* Liev Schreiber. Great character. I was almost glad he didn't get more screen time, because it gives him an air of mystery that made every appearance on screen all the more enjoyable.
* I really felt the tension. The second half really had me on the edge of my seat. With no understanding of military response or engagement tactics meant I couldn't pick apart any of the various strategic moves made on either side.
* Stuff I had a problem with:
-Driving the bomb into the stadium in a big crate on the day of the presiden't visit.
-There would've been better means of communication in place at the Stadium in case of an emergency to get the Pres. out.
-Chat room.
-Hated, hated, hated the final scene outside White House. Really belittled the Russian's character.
Overall, a generic suspenser, that I really enjoyed if only because of some enjoyable plotting, great casting and polsihed film-making. Plot holes and character inconsistency weren't a major problem for me. I whole-heartedly look forward to Affleck's next Ryan movie.
I'm gonna search out some of the books now. Based on what I've heard from other fans, and my impressions from the films, at the moment these are the only books I want to read:
The Sum of All Fears
Rainbow Six
The Hunt for Red October
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[Anthony Hom]

I was told in later TC novels, that Jack Ryan eventually becomes president ? That would be a perfect role for Harrison Ford to come back to, I don't think Ben Affleck can pass being a president for at least another 20 years.

 

[Matt Pasant]

This is supposedly being the next book tossed around as a movie. And a very good story if you ask me.

I'd also suggest Patriot Games, it gives you alot of the backstory on the Jack Ryan character and his motivations and how he comes to join the CIA.

-- Matt

 

[ThomasC]

I caught a bit of this again on FX last night. I become a huge fan of Scrubs and Alias after I saw this for the first time, and seeing Ken Jenkins (Kelso in Scrubs) and Ron Rifkin (Sloane in Alias) as Admiral Pollack and Secretary of State Sidney Owens (respectively) totally threw me out of the movie.

 

[John Mansor]

Has Ben Affleck lost this role?