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No More Fears
The Montreal Film Festival opened today. My coverage of it will begin as soon as the fifteen days of script reviews end. Next week, we will have script reviews of Ali, Rent, Frida and Catch Me If You Can. Today, I sign off for the weekend with my thoughts on Jack Ryan's next film adventure.
The Sum of All Fears Script Review
I have been a fan of Jack Ryan since the age of 10. I remember waiting in line for two hours to see Patriot Games opening weekend. After that I read all the Tom Clancy novels I could get my hands on. I really liked Clear and Present Danger and I couldn't wait for the next installment. Finally seven years later, production has wrapped on The Sum of All Fears. I had the delightful pleasure to read the December 8th 2000 script written by Akiva Goldsman (A Time To Kill), Paul Attanasio (Quiz Show), Dan Pyne and with current revisions by the director of the film, Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams, Sneakers).
A shady neo-nazi group headed by a mysterious Austrian billionaire (Alan Bates) is trying to set up World War III. To begin the onslaught, they set off an atomic bomb in Chechnya. The American government is shocked thinking the Russians did that themselves. The President (James Cromwell) issues a warning to Russia not to aggravate the situation. Investigating the situation in Russia is a lowly CIA agent, Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck), who's being mentored by a presidential advisor (Morgan Freeman). Looming in the background is the next step of the plan, setting off an atomic device on American soil.
When I first read about the plan of making Jack Ryan a twenty-something up and coming CIA Agent, I was extremely unhappy. I have been following the Ryan series for a very longtime and the idea of changing the premise disgusted me. I loved Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan. He was Han Solo in the seventies, Indiana Jones in the eighties and finally Jack Ryan in the nineties. I hated the concept that Ben Affleck would take over the franchise. I would have rather had Alec Baldwin comebback and play Ryan again. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Affleck, it's just blasphemy for the work of Tom Clancy.
All right, now that you know my mindset before reading the script, here are my thoughts on it:
I adored it.
Seriously, I really love the script. I was stunned to see how good it is. Of course, four people worked on the script, sometimes that makes it even worse but in this case, it was just perfect. In fact, I think this film could spice up the franchise and send it to new heights in the 21st century. The story is well constructed and is well written. A must read thriller with interesting twists and turns here and there. It has a lot in common with Black Sunday but doesn't borrow too much from it.
RYAN (to Cathy on the phone)
Hi. Sorry -- look, what it is, is -- I work for the CIA and I'm going with my boss to Russia to do a nuclear weapons inspection.
One of my favorite thing about young Jack Ryan is his relationship with Cathy (Bridget Moynahan). As we all know, Cathy was played by Anne Archer in the last two movies and she played the part of the loving wife and mother. In this film, she has just started to date Jack. She doesn't even know he works for the CIA. She thinks he's a historian. Their relationship is really interesting, funny and romantic. Something refreshing that was seriously lacking in the previous movies. I can't wait to see where this could lead in the future young Ryan films.
CABOT
You're about to breathe air way over your pay grade, so listen up. You're going to be asked for analysis and advice. Just be goddamn sure you know what you're talking about before you give it. Don't be afraid to say you don't know. And choose your words carefully. Words have a habit of being turned into policy.
Perfect casting with Morgan Freeman playing Bill Cabot. He'll be amazing and has a good chance of stealing this film from Affleck. I don't know how they invented this character but his presence lifted the story amazingly. SPOILERS!! His death is disappointing, because I would have loved to see him show up in the next few Ryan movies. END SPOILERS!!!
The rest of the characters, beside Cathy, are good. The most interesting are a bunch of Russian officials, The President, John Clark and the evil Dressler. The script is a serious departure from the book. The screenplay is more based on the book than a straight adaptation of it.
Paramount has a blockbuster for Summer 2002. I'll definitely be waiting in line for it and be awaiting some more young Ryan novels from Tom Clancy.
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
