This geopolitical thriller based on the Tom Clancy novel is so insistent on having a strapping young hero that drama and common sense are sacrificed just to squeeze him in. In an odd casting stunt, Ben Affleck takes over the role of CIA analyst Jack Ryan when Harrison Ford, who played Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, decided to leave the Clancy franchise. The plot has something to do with a terrorist cabal goading the United States and Russia into war with each other, but most of the movie involves Affleck yelling into a wireless phone as things explode in the background.
