Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 53

MOVIES Thriller needs reality check 'Sum of All Fears' makes a realistic event absurd Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) is in a tight spot in Tom Clancy's "The Sum of All Fears." REVIEW the Martians blowing up the White House in "Independenc this entertainment No, it's depressing, maybe a little disgusting. Is it valuable commentary a visceral warning against what might be? Not really, since it takes a realistic event and couches it in the most preposter ous terms. "The Sum of All Fears" is based on the book by Tom Clancy, whose bombers included an al Qaeda-like terrorist, a Euro commie and a Native American rebel. The movie excises the Arab and replaces the whole group with vaguely Eastern European neo-fascists. Yeah.

Every night we toss and turn, kept awake by troubling thoughts of what terrible plots might be hatched by vaguely Eastern European neo-fascists. The story is thoroughly unconvincing, and so is Jack Ryan. Is he 53, married, and blonde Or is he 29, single and brunette? Is he a veteran of the CIA, or a rookie Harrison Ford has left the series, replaced by Ben Affleck, raising a host of continuit problems. The action is set in the present day, yet the movie simply ignores Ryan's sudden reverse aging, his backward career movement. THE SUM OF ALL FEARS Parents' guide: Running time: 120 minutes Showing at: Area theaters Jack Ryan: Ben Affleck Cabot: Morgan Freeman Fowler: JamesCromwell Dressier: Alan Bates another matter.

It now seems like only a matter of time before some fanatic with a sap's dream of a virgin harem takes out a U.S. city the scenario explored in "The Sum of All Fears," the movie shelved after Sept. 11 when its premise became depressing ly realistic "The Sum of AH Fears" shows you, if you really want to see, what this catastrophe will look like. The city is Baltimore, knocked sideways and flattened by the fiery shock wave of an atom bomb smuggled into the country by terrorists. Buildings topple, glass blows inward on rooms full of people, chopper are flicked out of the sky, SUVs rolled off highways.

People are burned to crisps, white ash settles over everything, and a cloud darkens the land. Somehow, not as much fun as By GARY THOMPSON thompsgphillynews.com Many of us spent our grade school years under our desks with our butts facing the windo practicing for A-bomb attacks. These drills were usually conducted with much snickering and eye -rolling nobody took it seriously, even though some hand-wringing egghead would occasionally release a study about the psychological effects of growing up in the nuclear shadow. Someho we trusted that reasonable people would prevail, that ideological and cultural conflicts between East and West would be settled in more appropriate ways rigged figure skating exhibitions, for example Sure enough, over time, nightmares about nuclear winter gave way to images of Putin and Bush bass fishing in Texas, knocking back a few Stolis, agreeing to dump their nukes in the trash. Who needs 'em? The truth is Cuban Missile Crises notwithstanding the idea of organized societies obliterating the planet in an exchange of ICBMs never seemed entirely imminent.

One apocalyptic stooge with a suitcase bomb well, that's Angela Lindvall stars in "CQ." an entertaining film about making a film On one hand, the movie is stubbornly contempor ary. On the other, it's stuck with a story that feels 15 years old a drunken Russian premier a la Boris Yeltsin, U.S.Russian nuclear tension. The terrorists believe that detonating the bomb will trigger WWIII, somehow making the world safe for Nazis. Even on its own ludicrous terms, "The Sum of All Fears" generates little narrative momentum, and invites unflattering comparisons to other installments in the Ryan series. A scene of green analyst Jack being rushed into a high-level meeting where he blurts out his gut feelings is REVIEW CO Parents' guide: brief nudity, language Running time: 92 minutes.

Showing at: Ritz 5, Ritz 16NJ Paul: Jeremy Davies Valentine: Angela Lindvall Marlene: Elodie Bouchez Andrzej: Gerard Depardieu now searches for a way to turn this film into his personal statement, all the while falling in love with his leading lady Valentine (Angela Lindvall). Davies nails the confused young artist role and the film takes off when Paul finds the ac cribbed from "The Hunt for Red October," John McTiernan's great actioner, and serves only to remind us how much better that earlier movie is. Finally, the whole idea of Ryan symbol of U.S. capabilit com-petenc professionalism, individual grit, can- do spirit and moral clarity is sadly lacking in credibilit y. Sept.

11 taught us two things it's only a matter of time before another disaster occurs, and there's no Ryan in the CIA to stop it. Produced by Mace Neufeld, directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by Paul At-tanasio and Daniel Pyne, music by Jerry Goldsmith, distributed by Paramount Pictures. tion from the spy film starting to take over his own life, which is reminisc ent of Tom DiCillo's excellent and similarly themed "Living in Oblivion." "CQ" was beautifully shot by Robert D. Yeoman Royal Tenenbaums," "Drugstore who along with set decorator Philippe Turlure, successfully capture and re-create the '60s-style interior design that makes "Dragonfly" look like a film you'd want to see in real life. Just like "CQ." Produced by Jimmy DeBrabant and Michael Polaire, written and directed by Roman Coppola, music by Mellow, distributed by MGM.

make a completely personal self-indulgent film of his own that includes capturing the erosion of his relationship with beautiful French girlfriend Monique (Elo-die Bouchez). The relationship is falling apart of course, because he pays more attention to his camera than he does to her. For those of you who were wondering where Gerard Depardieu has been, he is Andrzej the director of "Dragonfly." He can't figure out a way to end the film and is fired by the producers. After the first replacement, a hot up-and-comer played comically by "Rush-more" star and Coppola cousin Jason Schwartzman, doesn't work out, Paul takes over and By DAN GROSS grossdphillynews.com Roman Coppola is the son of Francis Ford Coppola, and obviously did not have to work as hard as most screenwriter to develop and direct his first film. Now that we've got that out of the way, we can look at Coppola's debut, "CQ" for what it is: A very well-made, funny and entertaining picture about a young filmmaker's attempt to be true to himself and his art, while making a cheesy spy movie in 1960s France.

Jeremy Da vies stars as Paul, a young American in Paris editing the campy film, while trying to PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS PAGE 53 FRIDAY, MAY31, 2002.