6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
CIA analyst must stop the plans of a Neo-Nazi faction to detonate a nuclear weapon at a football game in the U.S.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, James Cromwell, Liev Schreiber, Bridget MoynahanAction | 100% |
Thriller | 52% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A funny thing happened on the way to adapting Tom Clancy’s mega-bestselling novel The Sum of All Fears for film. They forgot to include Tom Clancy’s mega-bestselling novel The Sum of All Fears. Well, maybe that isn’t so funny, and it’s certainly not the first time filmmakers have decided to jettison large portions of a project’s source material, but it does seem fairly strange in light of the success story in film for the Jack Ryan franchise, Clancy’s CIA hero who was the lead character in such blockbusters as The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. In fact the character was so strong it weathered the sea change of different actors tackling the role, with Alec Baldwin’s Ryan in Hunt giving way to Harrison Ford’s in the subsequent two entries. Unfortunately, Ford’s decision not to star in The Sum of All Fears didn’t just spur another trip to the casting agent, it also evidently led to an entire rethinking of the franchise, and to sometimes deleterious effect.
The long lost nuclear warhead that sets off an international crisis in "The Sum of All Fears."
The Sum of All Fears arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC encoded image that is overall nicely sharp and detailed if at times too dark and lacking sufficient contrast, with some interesting processed shots that lend interesting hues to the proceedings. Before the disaster which occurs about halfway through the film, we get a nice array of deeply saturated blues and reds, with everything from the hairs on Affleck's arms to the incredible painted designs on the Kremilin springing to life in fantastic relief. After the disaster, we're treated (if that's the right word, considering the circumstances) to a weirdly blanched, ice cold white-blue palette that seems just right for what has occurred. Some of the darker interior scenes do seem too dark, with, for example, Affleck's suit basically blending into the background at times. Depth of field is quite good throughout the film, with some good dimensionality in establishing shots around the world.
While the overall amplitude of this Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix seems a little low, there are some bombastic effects, notably some great rumbly LFE, that dot the aural landscape. This is not a riot of sound design, as you might expect from something marketed as an action-adventure political thriller. In fact, the bulk of The Sum of All Fears is dialogue, and that is perfectly directional and always clearly up front in the soundfield. That does, however, make the occasional immersive moments all the more impressive, highlighted by the disaster I have tried very hard not to totally spoil for those who haven't yet seen the film. At other times, such "routine" action-adventure sound design moments like gunfire kick in throughout the surround channels and provide some of the aural punch the film as a whole lacks.
Two fairly entertaining commentaries, both ported over from the DVD release, are offered, each with director Robinson, but the first with DP John Lindley and the second, better one, with Clancy himself. A two part SD featurette split into Making Of (29:55) and Visual Effects (27:48) segments offer a little background on not only this project, but the Clancy-Ryan franchise as a whole.
The Sum of All Fears simply takes too long setting up its many convoluted plot elements, and then devolves too quickly into standard action hero fare to ever amount to much. Freeman and Cromwell deliver excellent performances, and the epochal event halfway through the film is certainly gasp-inducing, but otherwise this is a major disappointment in the Clancy-Ryan franchise.
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