Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I don't give a shit what the Clancy continuity nitpickers say: I want to see this film. I like Phil Alden Robinson. I like the ideas of Clancy's books more than the books themselves. So it's not part of the same timeline as the other Ryan films... so what? You know when they ruined the Ryan continuity? When he turned from Alec Baldwin to Harrison Ford. That was after... um... let's see... the first film. And I don't think any of the Ford films are particularly great. I remember seeing four different test screenings of PATRIOT GAMES back in the day, watching the ending evolve from average to different buy equally average. I still prefer RED OCTOBER to any of the others, and welcome a new take on the material.
Having said that, here's HOOPER with a look at the Tempe, Arizona screening of the film that just took place. Check it out!
Greets and bleats from the land of the eternal sun - good old Tempe, Az. - where tonight, several boys from Hollyweird unspooled a few reels of Tom Clancy goodness known as 'The Sum of All Fears'. Thought I'd take the time to let you know what I thought of this fine piece of celluloid goodness.
Contrary to the title, this isn't the long-rumored Tom Arnold biopic. Instead, we have Good Will Hunting's buddy Ben Affleck inheriting the role of CIA analyst Jack Ryan from the big britches of Indiana Jones himself. Now I hear what you're saying to yourself - "Self, isn't Ben Affleck a little young to be taking a role form Harrison Ford?" - and well, you'd be right. "So, anonymous movie going review guy, this is a prequel to the other films, right?" Well, not really. We do meet Jack right after he's met his future wife and he isn't yet the full-blown analyst we see in 'Hunt for Red October but the film is set in the present rather than in the days before HFRO which was plainly established to be "before the fall of the Soviet Union". Get that? Basically, they don't acknowledge the other films at all.
Now that we're straight, here's the scoop. We've got Ryan, a jr. CIA analyst whippersnapper who has written a report about a possible successor to the Presidency of the Russian Republic. When he first published the report, no one thought that his guy had a shot at getting the head job but sure enough, due to the movie gods, it turns out that Ryan is correct and because of this, he now has the ear of the CIA Director Bill Cabot, played by Morgan Freeman. Trouble is, the prevailing wisdom says the new Russian President - whose name sounds too close to 'Nimrod' . . . I never did get it - is a hardliner with an itchy trigger finger. This makes the US President Bob Fowler (James Cromwell from Babe and Revenge of the Nerds... remember that?) very nervous.
Meanwhile, back on the ranch, we've got Fascist/Nazi/Aryan Nation/Blue-blonde terrorists who realize that this would be the perfect time to attack the US and frame Russia. They must have seen 'Octopussy' because they decide to do it in the same way as the bad guy from that flick. Set off a bomb on American soil and the US will automatically think it is Russia and attack. Once one superpower weakens the other, our Hitler bad guys will walk in and take over.
Sounds derivative, doesn't it? Trust me - that's only on paper. The thing that's different about this flick is that the bad guys get their attack off. They get a bomb into the US and detonate it in mid-town Baltimore. If you've been itching to wonder what a nuclear attack would look like in these halcyon days of CGI, wonder no more. While it isn't a show-stopping explosion ala T2, it is an impressive attack that certainly surprised me and my cohorts. It happens midway through the movie and once it happens, we get into the third act of the flick in which Ryan must convince the President not to attack Russia, find proof that someone else did the attack, make sure his girlfriend is okay, AND land the plot in one piece while still looking good Ben-style.
So now that you have more than a nickel's worth of the plot, I hear you asking - is it any good? Well, that depends. I was VERY impressed with Ben Affleck. He turns in a better than usual performance as Ryan. I normally accuse Affleck of playing himself Costner/Clooney style in his pictures but here, he is more than the pretty boy. Freeman is good too - all wisdom and professionalism but he is not really stretching. Think 'Deep Impact' and his bare performance there and you're not far off. I do wish we had more Live Schreiber as operative John Clark - he's wasted here in a bit part.
As for the movie as a whole - it is surprisingly humorous at the start with several laughs and interesting bits of business. The nuclear attack plays very close to current fears and seeing the aftermath of the attack is a bit intense in light of recent events but it is engaging to watch. The final portion of the movie is a little bit too convenient for me. We have Ryan playing the third Hardy Boy as he pieces together what happened. We have one small snippet of a scene with Clark finding out who the terrorists bought their bomb from. It all wrapped up far too neatly although I don't envy the screenwriter (didn't catch who it was) who had to condense Clancy's book. I would have like to see more detective work resulting from planted info earlier in the story.
To wrap up (finally!), I can say it was a good flick but in my opinion, it lacked the political depth & intrigue of 'Clear & Present Danger' & had more to chew on than 'Patriot Games' but didn't come close to 'Hunt for Red October'. If only Alec Baldwin hadn't been an arrogant ass back in the day...
That's all - keep the peace and word up, homies! Call me Hooper - you've already got a Quint! :)
Thanks, Hooper. Now we've got a reviewer we've heard from before, Project Rage. He's got a lot to say, and he's very specific. Keep that in mind, and dig in!
SUM OF ALL FEARS review with spoilers
I am Project Rage,
This film succeeds in being a high tense Tom Clancy thriller. This film blows radiant bloody rectal chunks at being a Jack Ryan film. Also Ben Affleck please for the love of Jesus!, comb your hair!!
RANT
This film starts out with an Israeli bomber losing a nuclear weapon or what action filmgoers would call a "Broken Arrow" and this bomb is dug up and found in current days, sold to a Neo nazi regime who wants a nuclear holocaust between both Russia and USA, so the neo-nazis can take over the world later, though Jack Ryan a young messy-haired CIA analyst working under Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman) who's head of the CIA, and then they find out information of the bomb, by the help of John Clark (Live Schreiber), (SPOILER AHEAD) a nuclear bomb goes off in Baltimore at a football game where the president (James Cromwell) just misses the nuclear blast, but Bill Cabot dies, as Russia fires on an aircraft character and the world waits for a nuclear showdown, though at the end Jack Ryan(Yes, Ben Affleck) saves the day. Yes, that was all one sentence.
RAVE
For a Tom Clancy movie it delivered, lots of political intrigue, lots of CIA-Clancy babble talk, lots of military weapons, and the most body count of all Jack Ryan films. Fine direction by Phil Alden Robinson who did Sneakers and Field of Dreams. The supporting cast is the real reason to watch this film, the bad German dude from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, James Cromwell, Colm Feore, and Phillip Baker Hall. Plus great acting from the man who is truly overdue for an Oscar, Morgan Freeman. He's always great in everything. Also remember he plays Bill Cabot not Admiral Greer that the great James Earl Jones played. For a current Paramount film this is not so bad. Remember Paramount used to have the official WB smelly ass stamp of approval. Producing such wretch films as Tomb Raider, and Rat Race last summer. This film was a test print, it was missing one special effect at the beginning and the not yet "always great ", film score of legendary Jerry Goldsmith. The temp track included scores of Gladiator, Hunt for Red October, and Saving Private Ryan.
VISUAL: 2:35:1
AUDIO: Test print Dolby stereo, will be Dolby 5.1 in theatres.
RAGE
First of all they should of ripped away the names JACK RYAN and JOHN CLARK out of this script, it puts shame to the other films HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. I type these titles out cause some of my generation have not seen these films, and a lady who saw it liked this film a lot, but had not even heard of the others. I implored her to watch "THE" Jack Ryan films. Paramount will succeed with a younger audience falling in love with this character. Though the other half will feel like someone pissed in your porridge. Though this goes to my second problem, Ben Affleck is so not Jack Ryan. I heterosexually like Ben Affleck films minus my ripped review of Pearl Harbor. I know he was going through hard times, but his Jack Ryan character is really crass, similar to his character to Armageddon (which I really enjoyed) totally different to Harrison Ford's character or Alec Baldwin's, who they both played them as ordinary guys, scared sh*tless and thrust into these extraordinary situations. Except Ben Affleck is just gung-ho and thinks he's Bond. Also Ben doesn't comb his hair through the whole movie not very Bondian if he's trying, What's up with that, was he getting beauty tips from Josh Hartnett, but at least he combs it down. Jeez it's sad I'm worrying about his hair, but you should watch it, it's like lunch leftovers hanging from a person's lip, it's distracting. Leiv Schreiber was playing the kick-bootie John Clark character that William Dafoe played in CLEAR AND PRESENT. Liev Schreiber……………………..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! WHO THE HELL CASTED HIM AS THAT CHARACTER!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
So the lowdown is go see this film as an action film on video, and totally ignore the Jack Ryan aspect of it. There need to be more Tom Clancy films, but new characters.
I am Project Rage
I certainly wouldn't call those positive reactions, but the people I've talked to who really don't care about the other Ryan films actually liked this a lot. I'm trying to get some other reviews in as the day progresses, so check back if you're interested...
"Moriarty" out.
