Sum of All Fears - a review

[Patrick Sun]

SoAF was good, not great, not awful. How much difference can one man make? In the aftermath of a horrific event on US soil, how does the US government respond?

I thought Ben Affleck was okay, but his performance didn't make go "Whoa, he owns this role!" The rest of the cast are good, though mainly position players, not much in depth characterizations for many of the players. The film felt a little "distant" in its subject matter, so it wasn't entirely gripping and overly dramatic as it could have been. Maybe that was a good thing, I'm not sure. I didn't like the Liev Schreiber portrayal as John Clark, just wasn't good casting in my eyes. Think Clint Eastwood in "Firefox" for what I think John Clark should have been.

All in all, I give it a 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.




PatCave; HT Pix;Gear;DIY Projects;DVDs; LDs

[P-Dub]

Saw this over the weekend and have to give it an overall C+. This is a decent movie, and I'm sure the franchise will continue with Ben. I have to agree that this didn't make me think that Ben is Ryan. I guess that's what happens when you have Harrison Ford play Ryan. I guess this is much like the James Bond series, as no one can touch Connery.

Onto the movie. The scene is set, US and Russia are still on alert, but as the new government comes into power, an expert analyst is needed on the new Russian President. Enter Jack Ryan, the analyst who wrote a paper on the new President. He gets called out of bed and is whisked away to Russia to meet the new President and then go onto a nuclear inspection. Why he needs to go to a nuclear inspection, is unclear, but he is observant.

There's a bit of backstory before the start of the on the main point. A nuclear bomb was on an airplane that was shot down in the desert in 1973. There's also some secret faction that is looking to bit the US against Russia and Jack has the rest of the moive to figure it out. It's surprising that he's the only guy that can do it. Having not read the book, I'm tempted to go read it for the different take.

For the weak of heart, you might want to read the spoiler before going
The nuclear device falls into the wrong hands and ends up blowing up a stadium in Baltimore. Most of it has been shown in the trailers, but there is some aftermath as well.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.