The Sum of All Fears
Directed by	Phil Alden Robinson
Produced by	Paramount Pictures
Written by	Tom Clancy Paul Attanasio
Starring	Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, James Cromwell, Ken Jenkins, Liev Schreiber, Bridget Moynahan
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May 29, 2002
Running time	124 min. (US) 128 min. Spain
Language	English
Budget	US$ 68,000,000
IMDb profile

The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 film by Phil Alden Robinson, based on the book by the same name by Tom Clancy. It stars Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman.

Plot

A small group of neo-nazi terrorists recover a nuclear bomb which they decide to use at a Super Bowl, and then frame the Russians. Jack Ryan (Affleck), an Intelligence officer at the CIA, must prevent a nuclear exchange between Russia and the USA.

• Tagline: 27,000 Nuclear Weapons. One Is Missing.

Main Cast

• Ben Affleck... Jack Ryan
• Morgan Freeman... DCI William Cabot
• Bridget Moynahan... Dr. Catherine Muller
• James Cromwell... President Robert Fowler
• Liev Schreiber... John Clark
• Alan Bates... Richard Dressler
• Ron Rifkin... Secy. State Sidney Owens
• Ciarán Hinds... President Nemerov

Deviations from the book

While the basic plot was the same, there were significant changes from the book. Noting these substantial changes, in the commentary track on the DVD release, Tom Clancy introduces himself as "the author of the book that he (Phil Alden Robinson) ignored".

• The original terrorists in the novel were Muslim extremists, but in the movie, they are changed to neo-Nazis. A common misconception is that this was done as a reaction to the 9/11 attacks. However the script was conceived before September 11, 2001.
• The attacked city was changed from Denver to Baltimore, Maryland.
• Jack Ryan is a low-level Intelligence Officer analyst in the movie, whereas he is the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence in the book.
• The bomb in the movie is a tactical fission device, not a thermonuclear bomb as in the book.
• The setting is in a post-Soviet world.
• Also the "battle for Berlin" is excluded from the script (since the book was based in c. 1989 there is still a Soviet garrison in the city and during the course of the book, there is a clash between Russian and American tanks), although the Berlin Brigade is (falsely) mentioned at the beginning of the movie.
• Spinnaker (the mole in the Russian government) is actually found to be an unreliable source because he is making up or changing information for his own benefit to become a president of the USSR (or the Russian federation).
• Robby Jackson's role is deleted and instead of the US fighters splashing Libyan MIGs the USS John C. Stennis is attacked by Backfire bombers. For some reason the AEGIS escorts are not there and despite the worsening international situation there is no sign of even normal air patrols. Instead of firing their missiles from a distance, the Russian bombers close to within range of the carrier's Phalanx point defense system (drawing no fire from its Sea Sparrow missile system, either) before firing, and succeed in disabling the ship.
• Another subtle - but interesting - difference in the post-9/11 world is that the goal of the terrorists in the movie is to get Russia and the US to fight each other, in hopes that fascism will ultimately prevail following World War III. The goal in the book was for the terrorists to start a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia.

External Links

• The Sum of All Fears at the Internet Movie Database
• Official DVD Site

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