The Sum of All Fears 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: In terms of escapist fun, this one ranks right up there with a newsreel tour of ground zero in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Read more

Renee Graham, Boston Globe: There's nothing ambiguous here -- no twisty plot lines, no out-of-left-field jolts. Just lots of angry boys with big angry toys designed to wipe out the whole ever-lovin' lot of us. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The most exciting [two hours] I've spent on any would-be summer blockbuster in a long, long time. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: It's a testament to how effective The Sum of All Fears really is that it sends you home feeling more scared than you were before. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The Sum of All Fears is almost impossible to follow -- and there's something cringe-inducing about seeing an American football stadium nuked as pop entertainment. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: An implausible apocalypse without depth or resonance, a cartoon of international politics presented with no James Bond-like playfulness and with all the superficial realism money can buy. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: It's a striking measure of the nervousness of the country right now that a movie so full of holes should be as gripping as it is, at least for its first two-thirds, after which it collapses into a swamp of sentimental mush. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: This engrossing, characteristically complex Tom Clancy thriller is shifty in the manner in which it addresses current terrorism anxieties and sidesteps them at the same time. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Sum of All Fears may not be super-smart, but it's rock-solid. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Absorbing and disturbing -- perhaps more disturbing than originally intended -- but a little clarity would have gone a long way. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Toward the end Sum of All Fears morphs into a mundane '70s disaster flick. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: The nonstop action takes you all over the planet, and you'll find yourself totally caught up in this exhilarating adventure. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: The explosion essentially ruined -- or, rather, overpowered -- the fiction of the movie for me. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Ben Affleck is more than a stand-in for Harrison Ford. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: All that moviemaking money, plus all those gadgets, plus Ben Affleck: It doesn't add up to very much. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: A slick, well-oiled machine, exquisitely polished and upholstered. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: It's a smartly directed, grown-up film of ideas. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Phil Alden Robinson, who directed from a script by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne, is an accomplished craftsman, but his movie has been upstaged by the sum of our fears. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: An exciting action blockbuster. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I was impressed by how many tit-for-tat retaliatory responses the filmmakers allow before pulling the plug on the conspirators and averting an American-Russian Armageddon. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The movie does what all good thrillers should do -- provide enough shocks and surprises to keep us guessing, and never lets up on the suspense until the end credits arrive. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Director Phil Alden Robinson and his writers, Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne, do a spellbinding job of cranking up the tension. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: The Sum of All Fears pretends to be a serious exploration of nuclear terrorism, but it's really nothing more than warmed-over Cold War paranoia. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's a movie that, frankly, I could not recommend to a friend, and yet I find no fault in the filmmaking. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: A mediocre terrorist melodrama turned even punier by real-life events. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: A trite espionage thriller without the thrills but with a lingering measure of nausea. Read more