MOVIE - THE SUM OF ALL FEARS - $$$$$ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING BEN AFFLECK, MORGAN FREEMAN & JAMES CROMWELL (President Fowler)
I am in the process of reading the 900 + page book, by Tom Clancy, that this movie is very loosely based on. Clancy's novel is written in the literary version of real time, constantly bouncing back and forth between locals and characters, a style that can almost overwhelm the reader. The movie unfolds in a more traditional linear fashion. This is not necessarily a positive development.
Dramatically altering the details of a Clancy novel is not new. This occurred in movie version of "The Hunt for Red October" (see http://www.kerzap.com/hfro/changes.html ). And I am not saying that all movies based on books must adhere rigidly to the original manuscript. However, the deviations are so great here, in the name of crass commercialism, that the substance has been diluted beyond credibility. This may explain why the script had several rewrites and both Harrison Ford and the director of the previous two Clancy films did not end up participating in this latest incarnation.
If you do not see The Sum of All Fears it won't be the end of the world.
FOR FULL REVIEW & LINKS TO ALTERNATIVE REVIEWS:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0108788/stories/2002/10/22/movieTheSumOfAllFearsoutOf.html
3:29:41 AM 
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