The Sum of All Fears
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 2.5
First hour is paint-by-numbers Inside-the-Government material, where no one ever talks about lunch or how hot the new secretary is, and where everyone looks so earnest and never calls anyone by his or her first name. Ben Affleck, taking over for the anemic Harrison Ford, actually adds a bit of sparkle, his poofy hair and frat boy grin undermining the seriousness. Never takes off until a startling plot development you don't expect (unless you've read about it beforehand) sends you for a loop; then, the filmmakers run into the problem of dealing with a such a (timely) concept and they cop out, using an ending that is pure hokum. Better than most FBI-CIA pictures of this type, but still about average.
