|
Rating:  - Actors excellent! Script not so good.
I enjoyed the first hour or so of this film, but then it turned into a replay of War Games. The last 30-40 minutes jumped around and were so rushed that all that remained was the predictable outcome.
Rating: - Propaganda is hateful, epecially when it smells antisemitic
This film could have been a good one. It came out after 9/11 but before Iraq, at the time of Afghanistan. It is about the "final" confrontation between the USA and Russia. A nuclear terrorist attack is organized in Baltimore so that the USA may believe it comes from the Russians and may start the procedure leading to a full out nuclear war. From the very start the theory that is illustrated here is that terror in the world is organized by the Israeli secret services with the help of some western autonomous adventurers and with the complicity of the hard liners in the Russian and Ukrainian armies. Then the whole story is difficult to believe because of the total lack of real believable hard facts. The American president appears as quite manipulated by his own military personnel and his State and Defense Secretaries, without speaking of the CIA. The Russian president appears just as much manipulated but with maybe a little bit more nerve. The whole plot fails because a small CIA intellectual agent manages to speak to the Russian president directly via the red telephone and make him take the decision to halt his alert, a decision that the US president immediately imitates. How can we believe that. The Weapons of Mass Destruction are quoted in some remote small sentence somewhere unimportant but the propaganda is clear. The various actors of this plot are then eliminated one after the other in the most radical way possible. That's a shame in a way because the film is rather well made and acted but it is obvious war propaganda that supports the theory pretending the world is being manipulated if not controlled by the Israelis, a resurgence of sorts of the old hitlerian anti-semitism of old. I guess some believe that good old hate-theories can always be revived in a way or another, with a little bit of upgrading if necessary.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Rating:  - Read the book instead
Nobody writes military thrillers like Tom Clancy. A handful of the movies made from his novels are worthy of the original manuscript. "Hunt for Red October" is my key example.
If I had to sum up the problems for "The Sum of All Fears", I'd first mention acting. I really like Ben Affleck, but he simply doesn't define the role like either Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford. Perhaps if he were cast in an earlier portion of Jack Ryan's life, he might have worked, but Affleck simply lacks the authority and competence inherent in Ford's manner--and being a MUCH younger man following Ford just seems out of sync.
This was also one of the rare roles where I saw Morgan Freeman as Morgan Freeman. Usually, he transports me to the place and time he's inhabiting in the character--not in this film.
The plot is interesting--but nowhere near as well done as the book. Just read the book. It's available here on Amazon and well worth the price.
Rating: - Tom Clancy sold out
The WSJ had an article a few years ago ("How to Market Movie About the Bomb So It Won't Be One," May 30, 2002) where Clancy admitted he changed the bad guys from Arabs to neo-Nazis for the movie because he wanted to be "sensitive to stereotypes." Pathetic, absolutely pathetic. Is it a stereotype to say that the biggest terrorist attack in the history of the world was carried out by Arab men? The one group that Hollywood still feels it can beat up on is neo-Nazis, even if it's completely ridiculous. I guarantee you, most neo-Nazis in this country are more interested in getting enough money together to buy a six-pack, than trying to get their hands on a nuke to blow up their own country. Foreign Nazis? Even more lame.
On the other hand, if Clancy (who's an executive producer of the movie, so he's got NO excuse) had had the integrity to keep the Arabs as the bad guys, we could have had an ultra-realistic, prescient, hard-hitting and thought-provoking movie. Shame on you Mr. Clancy, shame!
Rating: - book better than movie
I'm reading the book and decide to checkout dvd, boy what a waste! The only reason buying this dvd is to keep all the jack ryan movies together, patriot games and clear and present danger the best. This movie doesn't match what im reading so don't buy it think it will.
|
