The Sum of All Fears
User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 35
  3. Negative: 5 out of 35

Review this movie

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. GertM.
    Aug 30, 2002
    9
    Finally a movie that hasn't the usual American superhero that saves the world by lpure luck and dumb violence. Just a normal agent that uses his brains to solve the problem. Is it because that the movie is so un-American, that it has such bad critics? I hope that there in the future are made more movies like this one.
  2. [Anonymous]
    Jun 3, 2002
    9
    This movie is being showcased at an odd time for all Americans. Although this movie is very realalistic in terms of the war-like nature that makes up its plot, it is a very well-done movie. I know the topic is a typical "wrong place, wrong time" type of thing but the movie itself excellent.
  3. AppleH.
    Jun 5, 2002
    10
    Great cast! Great acting! Great Suspense! Great Cinematography! Great chemistry! The only thing not great is the stupid "so-called" professional critics who bombed this flick. Great movie!
  4. MrP.
    Jun 6, 2002
    10
    This was a good movie with a nice big, very sudden, boom. A 10 in my book!
  5. JJ
    Dec 3, 2002
    9
    I would like to respond to all of those who have criticized Ben Affleck for his portrayal of Clancy's Jack Ryan; Before you are so quick to discredit his performance, maybe you should take a minute RATIONALLY consider why Ben Affleck was chosen as the lead actor......Firstly, the movie is meant to take place at a point in time where Jack Ryan is just beginning his career. Yes he is supposed to be young, he is supposed to be inexperienced, and yes he is supposed to be in over his head. The whole point of the movie is that the character of Jack Ryan has been thrust into an overwhelming position with which he is not really familiar. He had never been on a special ops mission, he had never before associated with the CIA top brass. If this didn't come across as obvious when watching the movie, then it would seem that some critics must have been watching a different movie...Shakespeare in Love perhaps? The bottom line is that Affleck effectively portrays a young and inexperienced Jack Ryan. To those of you who believe that Schrieber should have been cast....well he is just as much a fossil as I am sure most of you are...and therefore completely wrong for the part of a YOUNG Jack Ryan. All that aside...the movie was excellent. The story was very well written, and the film had a very rythmic flow. To those who are asserting that the movie does not live up to our contemporary views on terror, I don't know what you've been smoking, but let's not forget that it IS BASED ON A TOM CLANCY NOVEL. The movie is fiction based on fiction, and the story should not and cannot be completely altered from its original incarnation. Therefore, the writers did an excellent job of creating a hybrid story, combining the modern, up-to-date feeling on terror, with the more political idea of terror that I am sure Tom Clancy had always intended to write about....considering the story has been around longer than any of Ford's Clancy incarnations, and Baldwin's.… Expand
  6. RayZ.
    Oct 29, 2002
    10
    WOW This is the Way Red Dawn Should have been made. Any Idiot who thinks otherwise is just that an Idiot. Keep in mind that it is just a movie all you Art'sy people try to make things to realistic. The Sum of all Fears falls in the catagory of Red Dawn and The Longest Day.
  7. HarryH.
    Jun 14, 2002
    9
    Kind of strange that not one person who paid to see this film did not like it? Makes you wonder what the professional critics saw that we didn't. We go to the movies to be entertained. This flick certainly does that. The cast was outstanding. Go see it.
  8. MichaelF.
    Jun 2, 2002
    9
    It's really good. The are some minor flaws, like the silly denounment. The cinematography can be, at times, great. Freeman is great, Affleck does something totally different from Harrison Ford. This is probably my favorite of all the Jack Ryan movies.
  9. AnonymousFan
    Jun 26, 2002
    10
    I give this film a 10 because of Ben Affleck. He's cute and always does a great job. Way to go Ben!!!!
  10. BradyC.
    Jun 4, 2002
    10
    I thought it was the best suspense/action movie i've ever seen and those people who say its bad because of the attacks the movie was filmed like 2 dam years ago!!
  11. JaredB.
    Nov 17, 2007
    9
    When I heard that a movie was being made based on another of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, I was thrilled. This one concerns a plot by a group of terrorists to plant a nuclear bomb in Baltimore the day of the Super Bowl. While the terrorists come from all different nations, the main threat is from Russia. Jack, well played by Ben Affleck knows this, he just has a hard time convincing anyone else, including the President, played to perfection by James Cromwell. Also of note here are performances by Morgan Freeman, Bridget Moynahan, and Ciaran Hinds as the Russian President. The direction, by Phil Alden Robinson, was simply incredible. There are two reasons that, as much as I would like to, I can't give this film a 10. First of all, there are times where the story becomes needlessly complicated. Second, Liev Schreiber, one of my favorite actors, was seriously underused. Other than these two complaints, I loved this film.… Collapse
  12. MadDad
    Nov 24, 2011
    10
    Great movie heavily underrated. Very thrilling setup until the very last minute. I loved the movie and think critics are very wrong. The nuclear explosion was very frightening. I can highly recommend this movie!

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 35
  3. Negative: 8 out of 35
  1. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    75
    All told, it's a reasonably effective movie, but it might have been a lot more effective had it the guts to portray a Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden-like character as its villain instead of this rather unbelievable, but more politically correct, gaggle of cardboard neo-Nazis.
    Read full review
  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    Surprisingly uninvolving, the least effective of Neufeld's Clancy-based movies. Surely he was not looking for this kind of film: one that bombs literally and figuratively.
    Read full review
  3. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Ted Shen
    70
    Screenwriters Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne stick to Clancy's sure-fire formula -- building tension from the political infighting behind a worsening crisis.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »