Quick movie review for The Sum of All Fears.
I needed an escapist movie to pull me out of my own head for a bit. And this movie delivered. Perhaps it was the movie, perhaps it was my own need, but the story was engaging enough that without any thought on my part, my usual nit-pickyness and inability to apply suspension of disbelief was not in attendance.
The only thing I didn't like about the movie was a bit of the cheesy, guy gets the girl, Hollywood ending scene. I don't really mind Jack Ryan getting the girl at the end. It's just that the scene was on the maudlin side.
I love the nuclear missile shock wave special effects. The movie managed to maintain an amount of tension, even though everyone in the theater knows that the good guys will win in the end. And they kept the trite plot devices to a relative minimum (except for the "bad guy kills the doubters amongst the cabal" device). Or maybe I just didn't notice them.
I also appreciated how they portrayed being a President of Russia and the US as a nuanced thing. Too often, people think it is a black or white affair. I am thinking of comments on the crack bored recently about President Pervez Musharref of Pakistan and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority. In this movie, the President of Russia must walk a delicate line between various elements within his Army. They act somewhat independently, but the Russian president cannot allow that to come to light without risking losing control even more. I believe that Musharref and Arafat are in similar situations. Even if they wanted to, they cannot even attempt to take certain actions without setting off a civil war.
Also, the behind the scenes Russian guy looks a lot like Gerald R. Ford. Just my opinion.