''The Sum of All Fears'' is a 2002 American
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson (born March 1, 1950) is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include ''Field of Dreams'', ''Sneakers (1992 film), Sneakers'', and ''The Sum of All Fears (film), The Sum of All Fears''.
Early life and educatio ...
, based on
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...
's 1991
novel of the same name. The film, which is set in the
''Jack Ryan'' film series, is a
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
taking place in 2002.
Jack Ryan is portrayed as a younger character by
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...
, in comparison with the previous films: ''
The Hunt for Red October
''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...
'' (1990) starring
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
as Jack Ryan and the sequels, ''
Patriot Games
''Patriot Games'' is a thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published in July 1987. ''Without Remorse'', released six years later, is an indirect prequel, and it is chronologically the first book featuring Jack Ryan, the main character i ...
'' (1992) and ''
Clear and Present Danger
''Clear and Present Danger'' is a political thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published on August 17, 1989. A sequel to ''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'' (1988), main character Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence in t ...
'' (1994), both starring
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
in the role.
An Austrian Neo-Nazi plans to trigger a
nuclear war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...
between the United States and Russia, so that he can establish a fascist superstate in Europe. After the Neo-Nazi's scientists build a secret nuclear weapon that is detonated in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, and a rogue Russian officer paid off by the Neo-Nazi attacks a U.S. aircraft carrier, the world's superpowers are pushed close to the brink of war. CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Affleck) is the only person who realizes that the Baltimore bomb was a black market weapon, not a Russian one. With the clock ticking, Ryan has to find a way to stop the impending nuclear war.
The film was a
co-production between the motion picture studios of
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
,
Mace Neufeld Productions, MFP Munich Film Partners, and S.O.A.F. Productions. On June 4, 2002, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
music label. The soundtrack was composed and orchestrated by musician
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...
. The movie premiered in theaters in the United States on May 31, 2002.
''The Sum of All Fears'' received generally mixed reviews from critics. It is considered a major financial success, having a worldwide theatrical run of $193.9 million compared to its production budget of $68 million and related marketing costs.
Plot
In 1973, during the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...
, an Israeli warplane carrying a nuclear bomb is shot down, falling into the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
, where the bomb gets buried in the desert. In 2002, a Syrian scrap collector uncovers the bomb buried in a field in the Golan Heights. He sells it to a South African
black market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
arms trafficker named Olson, who recognizes it as a nuclear bomb. He then sells it to a neo-Nazi group led by Austrian billionaire Richard Dressler, whose aim is to start a war between the United States and Russia that will devastate them both, and leave a united fascist Europe to rule the world.
Just prior to this, in the United States,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Robert Fowler and his national security team, including
CIA Director
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community.
Beginning February 2017, the D ...
William Cabot, stage a war game scenario where
Russian President
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Zorkin is overthrown in a coup and rogue generals launch a nuclear attack on the Americans. Shortly after the drill, Zorkin dies of a heart attack and is rapidly replaced by a seeming hardliner supported by the military, Alexander Nemerov.
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
analyst
Jack Ryan, who has studied Nemerov and believes him to be a reformer who merely talks like a hardliner to gain their support, is summoned by Cabot to accompany him to Moscow to inspect the top Russian nuclear weapons facility, in compliance with the
START treaty. At the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
, they meet Nemerov and his personal aide, former
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agent Anatoly Grushkov. Nemerov requests they deliver a personal message to Fowler, asking him and the US to remain out of Russia's
war in Chechnya and let Nemerov stabilize Russia in his own way. During their investigation of the weapons facility, Ryan notices the absence of three scientists listed on the facility's roster; Grushkov assures them the scientists are merely unavailable. After receiving reliable intelligence from a confidential secure informant (codenamed "Spinnaker“) inside the Kremlin disputing Grushkov's assessment, Cabot sends operative
John Clark to Russia to investigate.
Tensions between the United States and Russia increase when a chemical attack on
Grozny
Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia.
The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a pop ...
, the capital of
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
, is reported during the
White House Correspondents' Dinner
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
. Ryan tries to defend Nemerov by indicating that rogue military commanders could have ordered the attack instead, but his theory is disproved when Nemerov delivers a speech to the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
taking responsibility for the attack. In response, Fowler deploys peacekeepers to Chechnya. In Russia, Grushkov informs Nemerov that disgruntled Communist officers ordered the attack on Grozny, and Nemerov orders them removed from command, choosing to take the blame for Grozny rather than risk alienating more figures of his military.
Clark tracks the missing scientists to a former Soviet military facility in Ukraine, where Cabot suspects they are building a secret nuclear weapon that Russia could use without any method to trace it back to them. Ryan and his colleagues discern that a crate from the facility in Ukraine was flown to the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
, then sent to
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
on a cargo ship. Ryan warns Cabot, who is attending a football game in the city with Fowler, about a bomb threat. Thanks to Ryan's warning, Cabot evacuates the president fast enough to get him out of the stadium before the detonation, but not fast enough for the motorcade to escape the bomb's shock wave. The stadium is destroyed, though Fowler is evacuated by the Marines; Cabot is mortally wounded and left behind. Gathering his national security team aboard
a Boeing E-4, they conduct a real-life situation similar to the film's beginning but with far more confusion and heightened emotions from all those involved.
In Russia, President Nemerov desperately tries to defuse the situation over the
hotline, but must face American assurance of Russian culpability and his own generals' desire to attack the US.
Immediately thereafter, a corrupt
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 12 August
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles =
, decorations =
, bat ...
general who has been bribed by Dressler sends warplanes to successfully attack a U.S. aircraft carrier, heavily damaging it; this further exacerbates tensions between Russia and the United States. On the scene of the blast in Baltimore, Ryan learns from a radiation assessment team that the
isotopic signature
An isotopic signature (also isotopic fingerprint) is a ratio of non-radiogenic ' stable isotopes', stable radiogenic isotopes, or unstable radioactive isotopes of particular elements in an investigated material. The ratios of isotopes in a sample ...
from the nuclear blast indicates it was manufactured in the
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...
's
Savannah River Site
The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in the United States in the state of South Carolina, located on land in Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties adjacent to the Savannah River, southeast of August ...
, evidence which apparently exonerates Russia. Ryan finds the injured Cabot, who before dying tells him to contact Spinnaker, his source in the Russian government. Using Cabot's recovered phone, Ryan contacts Spinnaker, who informs Ryan that the uranium was produced in an American facility and was stolen by the CIA in order to be secretly given to Israel (who subsequently lost it during the Yom Kippur War). Ryan tries to get a warning to President Fowler by phone, but is blocked by one of the President's team. In Syria, Clark tracks down Ghazi, one of the men who found the bomb, now dying of radiation exposure. He tells Clark that he sold the bomb to Olson, who lives in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
. Ryan's colleagues at
Langley Langley may refer to:
People
* Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name
* Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer
* Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...
infiltrate Olson's computer and download files that implicate Dressler as the person who bought the plutonium and who is behind the nuclear attack.
Ryan is able to reach the
National Military Command Center in
the Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
using Cabot's ID, and manages to get a message to Nemerov, using the personal rapport they had developed when they had met in Moscow and saying that he knows that Russia was not behind the attack. He asks Nemerov to stand down his forces as a show of good faith. Nemerov agrees to do so and Fowler follows suit. As Nemerov and Fowler sign an agreement to counter
nuclear proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wea ...
at the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
, the participants in the conspiracy are tracked and assassinated: Clark sneaks into Olson's home in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
and slits his throat with a K-Bar knife. Russian agents chase the corrupt Russian general through snow covered woods and gun him down. Dressler, knowing he is being targeted as well, forces his aide to start his car. The car starts normally, to Dressler's relief. However, Grushkov knew Dressler liked to smoke in his car and had wired the car bomb to be detonated by the car's cigarette lighter as opposed to the ignition. As a result, Dressler is blown up when he presses the cigarette lighter button.
Later, Fowler and Nemerov deliver joint speeches about their new initiatives and honoring the dead at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, as Ryan and his now fiancée Dr. Catherine Muller listen in. Grushkov, revealing himself to be Spinnaker, arrives and offers to continue the arrangement he had with Cabot with Ryan, to ensure the back channels between Russia and the United States always remain open. He also gives Catherine a present for their engagement, which they notably had not yet announced to anyone. When Ryan asks him how he could have known, Grushkov merely shrugs, smiles and walks away.
Cast
Production
Development
In 1991, Paramount Pictures negotiated with
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...
for the rights to adapt ''The Sum of All Fears,'' but the talks stalled after he became reluctant to concede film rights to further works due to his dissatisfaction with the adaptation of ''
Patriot Games
''Patriot Games'' is a thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published in July 1987. ''Without Remorse'', released six years later, is an indirect prequel, and it is chronologically the first book featuring Jack Ryan, the main character i ...
''. Clancy ultimately agreed after he reached a large cash settlement with the studio president
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...
. However, producer
Mace Neufeld
Mace Alvin Neufeld (July 13, 1928 – January 21, 2022) was an American film and television producer.
Life and career
Neufeld was born July 13, 1928, in New York City, New York (state), New York, the son of Margaret Ruth (married and maiden name ...
was not enthusiastic to adapt the book after the release of ''
Clear and Present Danger
''Clear and Present Danger'' is a political thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and published on August 17, 1989. A sequel to ''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'' (1988), main character Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence in t ...
'' in 1994 due to its similarities with the story of ''
Black Sunday'' and concerns over depicting controversial subjects such as
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
and the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...
.
A year was spent developing
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...
's ''
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'' is an espionage thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on May 20, 1988. A direct sequel to ''The Hunt for Red October'' (1984), it features CIA analyst Jack Ryan as he extracts CARDINAL, the agency's ...
'' before the material was deemed too difficult to adapt.
An adaptation of ''
Debt of Honor
''Debt of Honor'' is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 17, 1994. A direct sequel to '' The Sum of All Fears'' (1991), Jack Ryan becomes the National Security Advisor when a secret cabal of Japanese industria ...
'' or a new screenplay unrelated to any of Clancy's books was also considered.
In October 1999,
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
announced that the next Jack Ryan novel being scripted into a film would indeed be ''The Sum of All Fears'' and that "hopefully we'll get that to a place where we can make a movie." During this time, writer
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels.
Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' Ba ...
wrote multiple drafts of the script. However, on June 8, 2000, it was announced that Ford had dropped out of the film after he and director
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce (born 29 April 1950) is an Australian filmmaker. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama (''Newsfront'', ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'', ''The Quiet American''); thrillers (''Dead Cal ...
were unable to work out script problems. It was later announced that
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...
would take on the role in a $10 million deal that would see the series rebooted with Jack Ryan portrayed at an earlier stage in life. "The day I received the offer to play Jack Ryan, I was filming a ''
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
'' scene with
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
. He was very sweet and said I should do it," said Affleck. "I wouldn't have done the movie without talking to Harrison Ford first. He gave me his blessing. That's what I needed to hear."
Months after Affleck became attached to the project, director
Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson (born March 1, 1950) is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include ''Field of Dreams'', ''Sneakers (1992 film), Sneakers'', and ''The Sum of All Fears (film), The Sum of All Fears''.
Early life and educatio ...
was brought on to lead the project.
While the basic plot is the same in the movie as in the book, there were significant changes. Noting these substantial changes, in the
commentary track
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
on the DVD release, Tom Clancy jokingly introduced himself as "the author of the book that he
irector Phil Alden Robinson, who is present with Clancyignored" and spending most of the commentary poking fun at the film's factual inaccuracies and differences from the source material. Perhaps the largest change were the original terrorists. In the novel, they were
Arab nationalists
Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and ...
, but in the film, they were changed to neo-Nazis. A common misconception is that this was done as a reaction to the
September 11, 2001, attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, but the movie finished filming in June 2001.
On the "making-of" DVD extra, director Alden Robinson said that the change was purely for elements relating to the plot, because Arab terrorists would not be able to plausibly accomplish all that was necessary for the story to work. In addition, the terrorists in the book received significant aid from elements in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, a country which had
ceased to exist before the novel was even published. The group
Council on American-Islamic Relations
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
(CAIR) did mount a two-year lobbying campaign that ended on January 26, 2001, against using "Muslim villains", as the original book version did.
![Olympiastadion Montreal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Olympiastadion_Montreal.jpg)
Screenwriter Dan Pyne claimed that the decision to not use Arab terrorists was "possibly because that has become a cliché. At the time that I started writing ''The Sum of All Fears'',
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008)
was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of ...
was just starting to come into play in Austria. And simultaneous with that, I think, there was some
neo-nationalist
Neo-nationalism, or new nationalism, is an ideology and political movement built on the basic characteristics of classical nationalism. It developed to its final form by applying elements with reactionary character generated as a reaction to ...
activity in
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
, and there was stuff going on in Spain and in Italy. So it seemed like a logical and lasting idea that would be universal."
It has also been noted that a larger percent of profits stems from international audiences, and American filmmakers work to avoid alienating large segments of this customer base.
Filming
Principal photography for ''The Sum of All Fears'' began on February 12, 2001, in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec. A majority of the film was shot in Montreal, including the sequences at the football game that were shot in the city's
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
. Additional filming was done at the
Diefenbunker in Ottawa,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. Production finished in June 2001.
The interior scene of the aircraft carrier ''
USS John C. Stennis
USS ''John C. Stennis'' (CVN-74), named for Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi, is the seventh of the -class of nuclear-powered supercarriers in the United States Navy.
She was commissioned on 9 December 1995. Her home port is temporaril ...
'' was filmed on a set used in the television series ''
JAG''.
Music
The musical score to ''The Sum of All Fears'' is composed by
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...
. A soundtrack album was released on June 4, 2002, by
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
. In addition to Goldsmith's score, the soundtrack also includes source music such as "If We Get Through This" by Tabitha Fair and "
Nessun dorma
"" (; English: "Let no one sleep") is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' (text by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) and one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. It is sung by Calaf, (the unknown prince), ...
" by
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
. There are also two tracks from the album ("If We Could Remember" and "The Mission") that are vocal interpretations of Goldsmith's primary theme co-written by singer-songwriter
Paul Williams. On March 12, 2014, an expanded edition was released by La-La Land Records.
Release
While the film was speculated to be released in late 2001, ''The Sum of All Fears'' was theatrically released on May 31, 2002. Many media outlets characterized this apparent change in release date to be a delay due to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. Addressing the release date, director
Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson (born March 1, 1950) is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include ''Field of Dreams'', ''Sneakers (1992 film), Sneakers'', and ''The Sum of All Fears (film), The Sum of All Fears''.
Early life and educatio ...
said, "When I came on board in August of 2000, they said, 'This is a Summer-of-2002 picture.'"
As the first film released since September 11 to deal so vividly with terrorism, critics believed it to be too alarming to be released nine months after the attacks.
Reception
Critical response
''The Sum of All Fears'' received mixed reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 60% of critics gave the film positive reviews and that the average rating was 5.95/10 based on a total of 176 reviews counted. The consensus was that the film was "A slick and well-made thriller that takes on new weight due to the current political climate."
At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
out of 100 to critics' reviews, ''The Sum of All Fears'' received a score of 45 based on 35 reviews.
Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
criticized Affleck's performance, saying it "merely creates an outline for a role he still needs to grow into, a role that
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
effortlessly filled with authority."
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...
felt the film "is almost impossible to follow – and there's something cringe-inducing about seeing an American football stadium nuked as pop entertainment." Michael Wilmington of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' called it "an implausible apocalypse without depth or resonance", while Peter Rainer of ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine felt the "movie has been upstaged by the sum of our fears."
A few positive reviews came from ''
The Argus'', who praised Freeman for giving "the William Cabot character such validity."
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
awarded the film 3.5 out of 4, stars and felt that "the use of the neo-Nazis is
politically correct
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
: Best to invent villains who won't offend any audiences." He also said that "Jack Ryan's one-man actions in post-bomb Baltimore are unlikely and way too well-timed."
Ebert was not alone in disparaging the recasting of the novel's Arab terrorist villains as Neo-Nazis.
In ''
Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy'', author Matthew Alford observed that the American political characters in the film act benevolently, declaring "When the President and his advisers do apply force it is with heavy hearts and purely as a way of demonstrating 'deterrence' in the hope that this will encourage the Russians to back down. They never apply excessive violence and are ultimately with Ryan’s in avoiding nuclear warfare." Furthermore, he argued that "the film celebrates and makes light of the enormous covert powers of a globally operating US national security state and its allies."
Ed Gonzalez of ''
Slant
Slant can refer to:
Bias
*Bias or other non-objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields
Technical
* Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level
* Slant d ...
'' magazine took issue with the film's violent content, especially as it was released not long after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
Box office
''The Sum of All Fears'' made $31.1 million during its opening weekend, ranking in first place at the box office, beating ''
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones''. According to
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray began ...
, the film made U.S. $118,907,036 and $75,014,336 in foreign totals, easily recovering its $68 million production costs.
Awards
The film won a
Visual Effects Society
The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and ...
Award for "Best Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture." The recipients were Glenn Neufeld, Derek Spears, Dan Malvin, and
Al DiSarro.
See also
*
2002 in film
The year 2002 in film involved some significant events.
Highest-grossing films
The top 10 films released in 2002 by worldwide gross are as follows:
2002 was the first year to see three films cross the eight-hundred-million-dollar mileston ...
*
''The Sum of All Fears'' (video game)
*
National Response Scenario Number One
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sum of All Fears (film), The
2002 films
2002 action thriller films
2000s spy thriller films
American action thriller films
American political thriller films
Films about neo-Nazism
Films about nuclear war and weapons
Films about terrorism
Films based on American novels
Films based on military novels
Films based on works by Tom Clancy
Films directed by Phil Alden Robinson
Films postponed due to the September 11 attacks
Films produced by Mace Neufeld
Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith
Films set in 1973
Films set in 2002
Films set in Baltimore
Films set in Russia
Films set in Ukraine
Films shot in Moscow
Films shot in Montreal
Films shot in Ottawa
Films shot in Baltimore
Films with screenplays by Paul Attanasio
Paramount Pictures films
Reboot films
Ryanverse films
Ukrainian-language films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films