The Sum Of All Fears (2002)

A new hero often arrives just when the world needs a fresh pair of eyes to see what everyone else has missed. Phil Alden Robinson's "The Sum of All Fears," adapted from Tom Clancy's novel by Paul Attanasio and Daniel Pyne, brings Ben Affleck into the role Harrison Ford made famous and gives the Jack Ryan franchise a fresh jolt of energy. As a young CIA analyst still new to the world of covert operations, Ryan uncovers a plot by a secret neo-fascist group, led by a wealthy European ideologue (Alan Bates), to provoke a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. When the conspirators detonate a nuclear bomb at a football game in Baltimore, the two superpowers are pushed to the brink. Affleck blends sharp intelligence with a newcomer's outlook, and Morgan Freeman co-stars as CIA director William Cabot, who takes Ryan under his wing. James Cromwell plays the U.S. president, Ciarán Hinds is the Russian leader and Liev Schreiber is covert operative John Clark. It's one of the strongest of the Clancy films, deftly directed by Robinson, whose comic thriller "Sneakers" was sorely underrated, and filled with humor, humanity and suspense.