As a violinist, I had the privilege of performing on the score for this film and working with composer James Horner. The very first cue we recorded was for the convoy ambush scene and OMG, it was an amazing experience. Have fun, everyone!
I enjoyed Alec Baldwin's performance in Hunt for Red October very much, he seemed more vulnerable than Ford. It was good for the character to make him an analyst who is way out of his depth when thrown into the midst of naval operations in the North Atlantic, thrown into cold water, quite literally.
Remember the time Obama gave guns he thinks American citizens shouldn't be allowed to have to drug cartels, and got nothin in return? Guns that were used to kill US border agents? Or the time he used drone strikes to murder US citizens without trial? Or how he, like Nixon, stole information from an opposing party's campaign? Probably not. We only talk about it when certain presidents do terrible things.
This is a really good film. I remember it was always playing on TV growing up and I never actually saw it in order as a result lol. The ambush scene is one of the tensest set pieces of the 1990s
The Sum of All Fears... I liked it. You have to take these movies as chronicles of the same character, that don't necessarily connect with each other... A bit like James Bond movies. New side characters, new setting, same kind of feeling though. I'd vote YES for you to see it. :)
Quality trilogy with an odd cast change that really makes it work even today. Baldwin was such a great "naive" young "Jack" and then "Ford" is "grizzled" and more hardened in each sequel. Love to marathon them. I'm a former Marine and was in I.T. in the Federal Government, when this was released, so it's near and dear to my heart.
I don't know if you like reading or not Shan. But if you do, as good as these films are, the books are much much better. They go a lot more into depth.
The Jack Ryan series from Clancy himself are excellent. The subseqent authors in the series are good but just don't have the magic Tom had. I still have enjoyed them, though.
I enjoyed "The Sum Of All Fears", I think it's worth watching. The series is pretty good also with John Krasinski and "Shadow Recruit" is decent also with Chris Pine. May as well watch all of them.
The film is also satisfying because it contrasts men of honor, the James Earl Jones character, Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, men who keep their word, vs the president and his lackeys, men of didhonor. It is a little simplistic, but it works dramatically.
I enjoyed “The Sum of All Fears”. It is very relevant to the state of affairs in our world. None of the Clancy movies hold a candle to the books, though.
Personally I like The Sum of all Fears. Obviously it suffers from Ben Affleck not being Harrison Ford (I know controversial opinion 😅😂) but still a solid movie.
This reminds me of Sicario, where the main character is a girl-scout couched inside an illegal war. In a way, both characters are do-gooders and not by doing good, staying within the law but they are serving a larger illegal regime, so sort of good and bad at the same time.
This is a solid film, I think it’s better than Patriot Games but Hunt for Red October is a incredible film. The Sum of All Fears is next and it’s underwhelming.
One of the movies I have no idea why no one has done. And Sherlock Holmes. The Italian Job/Wahlberg. Denzel's Fallen and The Pelican Brief. City Island. And a bunch of others that haven't been touched.
Loved your reaction, Shan. This is, imo, a great film. Regarding 90s thriller/action films of substance, easily my very favorite is In The Line Of Fire, starring Clint Eastwood also with John Malkovich giving one of his best performances. I highly recommend it. Keep up the great work!
The Sum of all Fears is Worth watching Shan! It ups the game a bit and brings some relevant ideas to the front. As an "almost" 55 year old Male, I grew up during the Paranoid era in the 80's...as far as Politics and War went. I watched this movie in a co-workers apartment...and later bought it on DVD. Ben didn't do "that bad" of a job playing Jack Ryan in my opinion...any more than all the actors to portray James Bond in movies... Thanks for reacting to this movie!!! It was a Step Above Patriot Games and solidified Jack Ryan as an iconic Character in future movies (no I haven't watched the latest movie...yet...).
A fantastic film. I do think the Sum of All Fears is definitely worth a watch/reaction from you. I'm still holding out hope one day you can check out the film Buffalo Soldiers (2001), an excellent cast and unique plot
I'd vote yes for The Sum of all Fears. It would be most closely considered a prequel from a movie standpoint but it's also a reboot. Jack Ryan is a new analyst for The Company when the events take place but it's set in the timeframe of it's release with modernized technology and world affairs.
It’s not really a true sequel though. It’s simply a movie using some of the same characters that happens to come after the aforementioned film. It doesn’t continue the same storyline. If it did, then it would be a sequel.
If the movies had been done in the right sequence, it would be (first) The Sum of All Fears, then Patriot Games, then The Hunt For Red October and finally, Debt of Honor (not made).
@@qwertymanor Authors frequently write stories in sequence. When they draw the interest of a publisher, the publisher will look at the material, then decide what comes first. In the case of Clive Cussler. his editor chose Raise the Titanic because just the name of the ship would draw interest, even though four books had been written first (those four books would be published after Raise the Titanic, Night Probe and Deep Six were big sellers. Same thing happened with Tom Clancy. His publisher felt Red October was more marketable, then the other books were published. Red October was filmed first, then Patriot Games, then Clear & Present Danger and then Sum of All Fears. Debt of Honor was never filmed for many reasons but it is VERY obvious that Osama Bin Laden read the book.
Definitely watch the Sum of All Fears....Affleck does a good young Jack Ryan...and cmon...Morgan Freeman?? You can't go wrong. Tom Clancy wrote the Jack Ryan series....he's an excellent thriller author along with the dark side of politics. Characters like Clark (Dafoe) and Chavez are regular Characters. Definitely give those a read.
For more movies about the drug trade from South America to the US, and the latter nation's war on drugs and the drug cartels, check out Sicario (2015) and Traffic (2000). Great movies both, with spectacular casts. :)
I love this trilogy. When The Sum of All Fears cane out, I watched it, but with a chip on my shoulder as I felt Affleck was a poor casting choice. The film has since grown on me. While nowhere near as good as Red October, Patriot Games, or C&PD, it's still a pretty decent political thriller and is worth a watch. Ben Affleck is forgettable as Jack Ryan, but Liev Schreiber picks up the character of John Clark from Willem Dafoe in C&PD.
Thanks for doing this reaction. This is only the 2nd reaction I've been able to find of this movie. The first, by Popcorn in Bed, was actually the first movie reaction I ever watched.
Surprisingly, this was the first Jack Ryan movie I saw. I first saw it in 2001 while my grandma was in the hospital (she eventually passed away) when I was 12. I first saw Hunt for Red October in 2011 at 22. And I first saw Patriot Games in 2021 at 32. What is it with years ending in 1? Lol
While I didn't buy Han Solo as Jack Ryan in Patriot Games, I was able to accept him in the role this time. Clear and Present Danger is my second-favorite Clancy adaptation--after The Hunt for Red October, of course.
Love this movie. Much better than Patriot Games. A really good political action thriller. The Sum of All Fears is also great. It's from Phil Alden Robinson who made the brilliant Field of Dreams and Sneakers.
I kind of geeked out a little when I noticed a young Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) during the sniper testing. Jack Ryan is always seen as a boyscott, someone you looked up to. I enjoyed the character growing up. Ben Affleck wasn't the greatest in Sum of All Fears and the movie felt very short like they didn't spend too much time on story, but there was some good scenes.
The Sum Of All Fears is before The Hunt For Red October. Yes, it's worth it. There's also Shadow Recruit before that one. They should have made another or two ending to his retirement like Spy Game.
This film is my favorite in the Jack Ryan series. I had a VHS copy of it that I recorded off of HBO at the time. I watched it countless times. It was great to hear your analysis of a film that I know so well. Great job again, Shan.
Clark and Chavez are the characters in Rainbow 6 book. Clark is usually the behind the scenes guy doing the dirty work in a lot of the novels. Chavez is is sidekick in about half.
The "Sum of all Fears" is easily the worst of the Jack Ryan films because it was poorly told. It is a perfect example of someone who read the book and forgets to add important details to forward the story when creating the screenplay. If you watch it, you will see the plot holes, especially if you don't read the books first.
Thank god... I miss your vids. Please try to do more if you get a chance. Theres barely any intelligent content on here. Try indy 4 if you get a chance. Your orgiastic reactions to explosions are great as always!!!
Hunt For Red October is the best one in the series and Alec Baldwin was the best Jack Ryan imo. Wasn’t a big fan of Harrison Ford as Ryan. He mumbles too much
Ryan's back and knees are shot, which is why he's an analyst and not a field agent. They briefly mentioned it in Red October, a helicopter accident, when he washed out of the military.
"These drug cartels represent a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States." Fun Fact: The Oval Office set was originally built for Dave (1993). What Script Fact: Ryan's (Harrison Ford) line asking Ritter (Henry Czerny) if he played tennis (to distract him during the computer showdown) was ad-libbed. Lost In Adaptation Fact: In Tom Clancy's novel, Ryan (Harrison Ford) breaks into Ritter's (Henry Czerny) safe to obtain the damning documents. The filmmakers thought that was too clichéd for film and created the dueling computers scene instead. Location Location Fact: The drug lord mansion destroyed by the missile was a real brick-and-mortar residence in Mexico purchased by the filmmakers from a divorcée who had unpleasant memories of the place. The filmmakers bought the mansion and destroyed it. The divorcée kept the land and presumably built a new house after clearing out the rubble.
I don't usually say this - but the book was SO much better than the movie. I love Harrison Ford as Ryan but they missed some of the greatest beats and scenes from the books that they could have included here. It was a good movie - but it could have been a great movie.
I'd seen this movie as a kid, but it was Rainbow 6, the game, that introduced me to Clark and Chavez etc. And then, as I saw this movie again, those characters became much more important. Chavez was always one of the best soldiers to have around just as he is in the movie :D
Sum of All Fears is another good one though i like the others w/ Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin a bit more. The last gift my dad got me before he passed away in early 2019 was one of the more recent Jack Ryan books at the time, Power and Empire.
@@AMERICANNERD76 I read both of those last year and loved them. Although, I think the military battle scenes would be somewhat expensive to film, especially for Executive Orders.
Tom Clancy's best selling Cold War thrillers were great reading! But they were so rich with textural details of his fictional espionage world, that all the threads and side plots and subplots were difficult to keep in mind, unless you binged the whole book. Great travel reads, so immersive.
The Sum Of All Fears is indeed a sequel (for the book series) however because they recast Ryan they chose to make it "earlier" in Jack Ryan's career. The book is, of course, much much better but the movie is still worth watching. However I did read the book first so I may have filled in parts of the story without realizing it.
A really great movie. Other great Harrison movies are Frantic , Regarding Henry and Firewall. Also the next Jack Ryan is also great The Sum Of All Fears with Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman.
What Lies Beneath, a very different Harrison Ford movie but the real star is Michelle Pfeiffer. A perfect Halloween movie to watch for Shan to watch 2023!!!
I know Ritter was looked at as one of the 'bad guys', but the more I watched this movie growing up the more I realized if I was in his shoes I would have done exactly what he did. Now, you can say he should have played the 'boy scout' role like Jack, but in the real world I wouldn't see Ritter as the bad guy.
I think what makes Ritter and Cutter the unequivocal villains here is the way they sell out the troops. You can make an argument that their actions in going after the cartels is both reasonable and a criminal act of war- that is just how nation states work with covert ops, etc. But, it is their total disregard for looking after their own that displays their total lack of morals. One of Clancy's major themes throughout many of his books is this amoralistic approach to politics. The 'good guys' are always those who retain their moral authority even if they commit exceedingly violent acts. Clark is a good example- he's a good man despite the fact that in Without Remorse he goes on a serial killing rampage through Baltimore- but he only kills gangsters and his acts are generally applauded despite being a vigilante. Cutter and Ritter perform similar acts to Clark (and here, recruit him) and in some ways are difficult to distinguish from Clark, but their corruption is to leave their own people behind, which Clancy/Clark/Ryan find abominable.
@@juvandy Keep in mind though that it's Cutter who is in charge. Ritter is just his lead pony and follows directions from his boss. As I mentioned before, Ritter could quit or turn Cutter in, but that is not the real world. And that's what makes Jack Ryan a hero. Boy scout that he is 😉
In retrospect I love this movie for itself, I just hate it for what it does to canon. Dan Murray gets killed in this movie, he's still alive in today's novels even though Clancy ISN'T. Also I like the more morally ambiguous Bob Ritter more than Henry Czerny's card carrying villain. But I picture Willem Dafoe as John Clark just like I picture the crew from Red October as Ryan, Mancuso, Jonesy, and all that. Except for some reason sometimes I picture Ben Affleck but today, in the later books.
You should read the books. They're quite easy to read. I thought both Tom Clancy and Steven King, although intelligent, wrote books for a younger, and less intelligent audience. I've said that they may have "sold out" to their publisher's and/or editors greedy whims. Perhaps all authors want to make money but these two, (as well as others), would RATHER make money than tell their story, and thus they sacrificed their art for corporations. They are good books mind you, from both authors, and gripping reads, so I do very much recommend reading them, especially to any and all who don't read a lot of books. My parents, who read a lot, said it's called "pop-fiction". I said: "that makes sense." It's as if they are trying to reach a wider audience by dumbing down their works. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" for children and I highly recommend THAT as well to modern young adults (as society has tapered off regarding the importance of reading). TLDR: Read a book, people! It does NOT take a lot of time; it can be done in zero time: the minutes before you fall asleep, or when you waste time on yt; all it takes is dedication
Lookit Shan gettin' shaggy! Lookin' good! Have you tried "Under Siege"? Same genre; stars Tommy Lee Jones and Steven Seagal -- action, martial arts (of course), atomic missiles, USS Missouri.
As always, Shan and his reactions and great reviews. However, your like Stanley Kubrick as they are far and in between. Wish there were more. Now you should join your fellow reactors and I hope you have not seen it yet. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (2022). You are missing one of the most original movies. All reactors have watched mostly and thought the movie the best movie they ever seen. And it stars, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, (Shortround from Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom), Jamie Lee Curtis, etc etc. This movie had killed it at the Academy Awards, best movie, best actor, best actress, etc etc. The etc really means something. Love to hear your thoughts. Everyone from Patreon needs to vote for Shan's reaction and review of this movie next, 🙏
I read all of Clancy's books way before the movies started coming out. Red October was the best with Alec Baldwin, The ones with Harrison Ford were OK but I didn't see him as fitting out as Jack Ryan as much. The one with Afflek I didn't like at all. They just changed way too much to make that movie from the book..
Raymond Cruz was in everything in the 80s and 90s. By the time he was in BB, it was like, “Hey, it’s that guy who was in everything. Damn, he got fat and old!” 😂
For me this movie is much better than Patriot Games, which is a bit colder and very spy-like and difficult to follow with such complex plots, this one is very easy to follow and very understandable, because it is about drug trafficking and drug cartels, and the action scenes are very good, all filmed in a real way. If you liked this movie, I recommend the 2 Sicario movies, also about drug trafficking with Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin and Emily Blunt, really very good.
Harrison Ford, as terrific an actor as he is, was not good for the integrity of the franchise. The storyline of Clear and Present Danger was altered in many ways to accommodate more screen time for the "star" and was strongly criticized by the author Tom Clancy. For Example, The FBI agent Dan Murray appears in several more books after C&PD, and Jack Ryan was never sent to Columbia.
Sum of All Fears is still worth watching. Not so good as previous one but some great scenes and Liev Schreiber is by my opinion better Clarke the Defoe (Defoe simply did not fit Clancy's description of average looking man who dissapear in every crowd). Just avoid Jack Ryan: Shadow recruit - this attempt to continue series ended as average tasteless thriller.
I'm a Tom Clancy fan and enjoyed the first 3 movies. There were obvious deviations from the books and not as strict military tactics and techniques that Clancy favors. They are good movies regardless. I have yet to really like anything in movies or TV that are based on Clancy's stories. Some are Clancy in character names only. They are so completely different they should not be using his creations at all. Some are downright awful. I would not recommend anything else at all. If you like the characters, read the books. They are much more enjoyable.
It's very accurate in terms of backstabbing drug groups and corrupt politics. The best scene is between Cutter & Cortez, an accurate summary of the drug trade reality.
This movie famously spent most of its budget in the first half, leaving the finale somewhat underwhelming. "The Sum of All Fears" might be more rewatchable than this, but the soundtrack gets painful sometimes and the middle part drags quite a bit.
I think Ryans whole weakness through the movie is he's an analysist/nerd/bookworm family man who expects others to act with integrity. The minute he goes south he is out his depth and relies on his wits to survive and escape. I still don't know what other weakness he needs to have, some people are honest and do their job. This movie clearly shows what happens when people of power are corrupt or vengeful. Sum of All fears, can't remember the plot which says much for a weak sequel and the passing of the Jack Ryan torch to Ben Affleck.
25:28 I agree with your sentiment but this was a high budget movie. At 65m this movie had a higher budget than Forrest Gump and Stargate, both at about 55m that same year. Not that surprising when you have such huge stars on location shoots, I think this was peak Harrison Ford payroll days.
I do think Jack has flaws they're just not dark ones. He's rather naive at times and that proves to give him some major blind spots. He also has the habit of getting himself into trouble by being quick to vocalize his theories. He fails to think about the repercusions. He's usually right but he ends up getting himself into trouble along the way.
I would say the only Clancy movie to avoid at all costs is "Without Remorse". That movie seriously bears zero resemblance to the novel it is based upon other than the main character's name, and that he's on a quest for revenge. All of the actual details in the movie are completely different from the novel. It's the worst bastardization of the Clancy franchise so far. I suppose if someone watches it purely as an action movie that has nothing to do with the novel, it might be possible to enjoy it.
Why would you think that Jack Ryan doesn't have a character flaw? His naivete is the defining weakness he has for this movie, and it enables others to run circles around him and trap him into conspiracies. He is good, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a flaw. His growth is that he becomes a very active character in the second part, rescuing the stranded soldiers
The only thing that didn’t make sense in the movie vs the book is the secretary. It didn’t make sense kill her and lose a contact within the administration. In the book, she was just abandoned and she was left with a broken heart and possibly legal trouble for her involvement.
What you say at about 25:30 is precisely what makes me disinterested in most modern films. For me, a well-crafted script can make or break any movie, whatever its budget. Another great draw for me are practical effects, such as you will find in twentieth century movies. Groundbreaking CGI, such as in Jurassic Park or Lord of the Rings certainly is glorious (alongside their great scripts and acting), but nowadays, you can CGI any visual, so what's the point? I seriously could care less about the MCU or DCU although I used to collect the comics way back when they were 12¢ each.
