The Sum of All Fears

“The Sum of all Fears” is a pretty decent thriller. I was pleasantly surprised. Not all of the elements work but there’s a lot to like in it.

Ben Affleck plays CIA analyst Jack Ryan who is summoned by Director William Cabot (Morgan Freeman) to accompany him to Russia to meet with the Russian President (Ciaran Hinds) While examining a nuclear weapons facility, they discover a conspiracy to detonate a nuclear weapon inside the United States and put the blame on Moscow.

The film features a good cast and all of the actors play well with each other. Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman have some good moments and there’s chemistry between Affleck and Bridget Moynahan, who plays Ryan’s girlfriend. Like other thrillers where the doomsday clock is ticking and the world finds itself on the brink of war the best parts are the procedural bits, where we see how the president and his cabinet have to go through rigorous actions to ensure that everything goes according to plan when the orders are called out. It’s also a lot of fun to see the CIA investigating the Russians and how every little action from each side is being scrutinized and what kind of consequences they might have. There are some good twists and a couple of shocking moments. Although one of the best and most unexpected developments happens off-screen (a big no-no) I will give “The Sum of All Fears” credit for having the guts to do something I’ve never seen done in any other movie. It makes the plot very memorable, and in a good way.

What prevents me from loving the movie is that the scenario we’re given, the reason why the plot kicks in is improbable. Not quite so loony that it’s complete fiction, but it really stretches plausibility. If anything should have been changed it’s the ultimate puppet masters behind the whole shebang. We don’t get to know them at all, they have no personality and have been seen before in countless other films. Their plot basically boils down to taking over the world after forcing their ultimate enemies to destroy each other and I suppose that in theory it would work but it’s bordering on some Rube Goldberg machinations. The plan and the way it plays out does feel plausible and it’s exciting to watch, it’s just this setup that is flawed. I don’t want to give away all the details but I was bewildered and even a bit confused when I found out what the deal was here.

It isn’t the most thrilling or the best nuclear scare films but there’s more than enough to entertain here. I suspect that on a second viewing I’d like it a lot more because it’s really just that one thing that is bugging me and come on, one thing? That’s not that much. Nobody’s perfect and you don’t need a movie to be in order for it to be good or enjoyable. If you want a decent thriller “The Sum of All Fears” is guaranteed entertainment and there’s a lot more that works here than doesn’t. (On Dvd, March 5 2013)