Saturday

Another television movie, I'm afraid. This time The Sum of All Fears. I do intend to stop watching them, or at least stop reviewing them here, because the purpose of this place is to talk mostly about films you probably haven't seen, rather than those you probably have. Anyway, the problem with The Sum of All Fears is not necessarily the bad acting, though it is from the Ben Affleck slump period (and him trying to be Harrison Ford), but rather from the lack of compensation, which I talked about earlier regarding comedies. A nuclear bomb is detonated in Baltimore. This causes far too much innocent loss of life for it ever to be compensated in the film. I think this is what makes it difficult viewing. We are never quite sure who the perpetrators are and they are assassinated at the end of the film in a rather cold-hearted way. There is no satisfaction for the viewer in this. Normally, the main character dealing with them would help in some way. But the loss of life has been too great, and too pointless. Compare films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. In one we feel satisfied by the end, but in the other not. Why?