July 7, 2002

The Russian phobia

In Sum of all Fears, the movie based on Tom Clancy’s bestselling novel, a terrorist group uses nuclear bombs to try to start WW III between the US and Russia. It is up to one man to stop them.

When the president of Russia unexpectedly dies, he is replaced by an unfamiliar regime led by a new president, who seemingly harbours hostility towards the US.

As tension mounts between the two countries, the director of Central Intelligence, Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman) looks for insight from his young sub ordinate agent Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck), who has little experience but tremendous knowledge of the new president. But when a bomb hits the US, the American public is quick to blame their Russian counterparts. As the mistrust escalates, it is only Ryan who is certain that foreign hands are involved in the confusion.

Ben Affleck joins the growing list of actors to portray Clancy’s hero, Jack Ryan. Director Phil Alden Robinson orchestrates plenty of tense moments that are highly implausible. This taut action packed film will keep you riveted throughout the movie. —HQK

An alien creature

Lilo & Stitch is a new animated comedy from Walt Disney. An unusual thing about the movie is that most of the songs featured in it are of Elvis Presley.

Lilo (voice of Daveigh Chase) is a young orphan girl who lives on the island of Kauai. Shown from the very beginning to be horribly bad tempered, she attacks a classmate at a Hawaiian dance class, and hammers up the front door of her house to keep her sister Nanai (voice of Tia Carrere), out. Meanwhile, in outer space, an evil scientist named Jumba (voice of David Ogden) has created a creature from a genetic experiment. Bulletproof, fireproof and highly intelligent, the creature is called Experiment 626. He escapes to Earth where he hides out in a dog shelter, and ends up being adopted by Lilo, who eventually gives him the name, Stitch.

Lilo & Stitch surprisingly isn’t as entertaining as one expected even though it has really good animation and graphics and famous music. —N.M.