The Sum of All Fears
This "present-day prequel" has Jack Ryan, played by Ben Affleck, saving the world again, this time under the backdrop of a nuclear explosion at a football stadium. This fresh-faced CIA agent is promoted to consult CIA director Cabot, played by Morgan Freeman, on the new Russian president, whom Ryan wrote an extensive paper on. Soon, with the disclosure that 3 Russian nuclear scientists are missing, the two start to investigate. Meanwhile, a group of Neo-Nazis go-ahead with their plans to escalate the fighting between the U.S. and Russia, so that once they finish each other off, the Neo-Nazis can finally rule the world, or at least what's left of it. They destroy the capital of Chechnya, which the new Russian president must take responsibility for or else he would look weak. Ryan discovers the next piece of their plan, the nuclear explosion on U.S. soil, and tells Cabot, but it is too late. Afterwards, Ryan acts alone in trying to prevent the United States and Russia from detonating nuclear weapons against each other.

All of it is well-done with some minor problems. The pre-nuclear half seems to run a bit long, talking about things the average moviegoer has no interest in listening to, but presumably, it's to get us used to seeing Ben Affleck instead of Harrison Ford or even Alec Baldwin in the role. The actual explosion and subsequent aftermath probably would have been more devastating had the events of September 11th not happened. Instead, this seems a bit rushed plus we've seen the whole sequence in the trailer. The last half lacks plausibility, with our hero Affleck racing through the disaster area only minutes after the blast, with no signs of sickness from the fallout (though hurriedly expained that the fallout was being blown to the south and east, I think making it near the epicenter would expose him to some radiation). Plus, do you mean to tell me that after Affleck's helicopter crashes, all he has is a bump on the head while the two pilots are dead? Come on! Admittedly, it is only a movie and at that, it is riveting. I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen, waiting for the back and forth between the U.S. vs. Russia and Ryan vs. everyone to continue. It's straightforward but effective. 3 stars