The Sum of All Fears: Difference between revisions

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The title is based on an anecdote recounted in the foreword: when you get a group of already hostile people together, their fears are amplified, to the point where the slightest misstep can set them on a course for war.

 

 

* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: The terrorists impersonate TV network service personnel to {{spoiler|get their bomb (disguised as a commercial VCR) into the Denver Skydome}}. Their German terrorist accomplices {{spoiler|get onto a Soviet army base in East Germany by donning Soviet officer uniforms, and pretending to be there for a surprise inspection}}.

* [[Body Motifs]]: A rather odd one, given the book's subject. If a female character pops up at any point, her naked breasts will be described or referenced.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Jack Ryan experiences a drawn-out, stress-induced breakdown - one of the few times in the series that he has not been up to the task at hand. This is due to finding himself working for a hostile administration without much in the way of support.

* [[Hot Line]]: Played realistically in that instead of the stereotypical "red phone" with national leaders directly conversing, it's a teletype connection with translators on both ends. Using this form of communication {{spoiler|causes the U.S. and the Soviet Union to edge closer to nuclear war because the U.S. President, after hearing reports of a possible coup d'état in the Soviet Union, believes he's talking to someone other than the Soviet Premier.}}

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: John Clark uses this; also a case of [[Mutilation Interrogation]] by way of [[Fingore]]. It fails in that the badguys were planning all along to lie under interrogation to [[False-Flag Operation|falsely implicate]] Iran in their bomb plot.

* [[Jerkass]]: Harry Ricks, newly minted commander of ''USS Maine'', is a hardcase engineer with a bad case of [[Miles Gloriosus]] when it comes to actual command. Elizabeth Elliot, Fowler's National Security Adviser, is worse, attempting to ruin Ryan's life on the basis of a petty vendetta and driving Fowler to the brink of nuclear war through sheer paranoia.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Both Fowler and Elliot go into full BSOD mode when they realize how close they came to starting [[World War Three]]. Fowler resigns his presidency immediately afterwards and Elliot gets taken to a mental hospital.

* [[Rich Bitch]]: Elizabeth Elliot, made worse because of her relationship with President Fowler. She becomes his most trusted advisor but her paranoid insecurity causes her to lead him to the brink of nuclear war. She has a full on breakdown afterwards.

* [[Super Bowl]]: Where the terrorists plan to detonate their nuclear bomb.

* [[Torture Always Works]]: Subverted. The terrorists [[False-Flag Operation|lie about who]] their backer is, when they are subjected to torture. They had intended to do this all along.

* [[Western Terrorists]]: The Warrior Society.

* [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]: Lampshaded by various characters, who find it hard to do this over the sweeping political changes that drive the conflicts of the book.

* [[Your Days Are Numbered]]: Qati, the leader of the terrorist group, is dying of cancer. He views the bomb plot as his [[The Last Dance|last chance]] to strike a devastating blow against America. His cancer meds are a [[Chekhov's Gun]] that clue Clark into seeing through the [[False-Flag Operation]].

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=== The movie contains the following tropes: ===

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Thriller Literature]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:The Sum of All Fears]]