Episode 114 - The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Failure to Franchise · Trev Snyder & Chris Sorgiovanni
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Show Notes
It's out with January, and in with "FebruaRYAN." That's right, this month we're taking a look at Tom Clancy's beloved CIA analyst turned reluctant hero, Jack Ryan. After the successes of The Hunt for Red October, with Alec Baldwin as Ryan, and Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, which saw Harrison Ford take over the role, Paramount Pictures were sure they had a long-running, bulletproof spy-thriller franchise on their hands. And yet, two subsequent attempts to reboot the series were both dead-ends. In this episode, we're looking at the first attempt to relaunch the series with a new origin for the Jack Ryan character, and a new, younger leading man in the role - 2002's The Sum of All Fears, starring Ben Affleck as Ryan. Arriving just months after the tragedy of 9/11, this movie seemed advantageously primed to capitalize on the news of the day in order to muster extra attention. But was the film's story a little too close to recent events for the audience's comfort? And was Ben Affleck's recently changing fortunes as a leading man more of a distraction than a benefit?