I read some of Clancy books. I was impressed by the technical weaponry information and his plots, which were complex, and in some cases multi-lateral (I don't like using buzz words, but oh well.). I also read The Sum of All Fears but didn't recognize anything in this film. I guess that tells you something.

IMHO, this movie had a hackneyed plot and very little technical stuff, except for Ryan's cell phone and an old Iraeli nuke. The one redeeming feature was Morgan Freeman, but he wasn't enough all by himself to save the plot or himself (he dies in the film. I don't like to divulge plot info, but in this case I don't think it really matters. Sorry.)

Jack Ryan was an interesting hero character in Clancy's book. Unfortunately Ben Affleck is not a very exciting Ryan. Maybe I should never have seen Harrison Ford as Ryan, but I did (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger). Affleck runs around a lot, but doesn't really seem to feel anything, and it shows.

I was a little surprised to see this movie get more than two stars. How many times do we have to watch a bomb threat? Personally, if we must watch earth - end game scenarios, I think the end of the world due to a comet trajectory is more interesting, ala Armageddon (Bruce Willis) or Deep Impact (Robert Duvall) which had Morgan Freeman as the president. It was a little more avant garde to have an African American elected. Even then, I would have chosen to read Larry Niven's book, Lucifer's Hammer. It's one scary book. And Niven is not as good as Azimov, but who is?

I did get a kick out of the clip that showed Antique Roadshow playing on the TV. PBS needs all the help it can get.

Recommendation: Don't bother, unless you're an Affleck fan. BTW, I hate panning films. It means I wasted my time watching them.