Bad News, Morgan Freeman Fans—His Intense Spy Thriller Is Leaving Netflix in Just 3 Weeks

I’m always game for a Morgan Freeman movie, and I’m especially game if the film is a thriller. The legendary actor has quite a few of those in his massive catalogue, but there’s one, in particular you should check out before it leaves Netflix on May 15.

Released in 2002, The Sum of All Fears stars Freeman and Ben Affleck in an intense spy thriller based on Tom Clancy's 1991 novel of the same name, and centers around a sinister plot concocted to lure the United States and Russia into a World War III. The tension intensifies when Russia’s president dies, and that combined with a couple of nuclear scientists going missing makes things…quite tense, to say the least. What’s more, the United States is also being hit with a nuclear threat at the same time, and it’s up to a young CIA analyst (Affleck) to kind of, ya know, figure this whole thing out before everything collapses entirely.

Now, what’s Freeman’s character doing in all this? Well, Freeman takes on the role of DCI William Cabot, who is essentially working with this CIA analyst to try and unravel the corruption happening. The two travel to Moscow to meet the new Russian president, and from there, they try to track down the missing scientists. The Sum of All Fears  is your typical, classic early 2000s thriller with a specific focus on the concept of the U.S. “going to war” in some capacity because that’s what was happening current events-wise at that specific time.

And while it’s not Morgan (or Affleck’s) best film in their personal catalogues, it can still take you for quite a ride. There’s also been a certain amount of appreciation gained for this movie since its initial release, with one Rotten Tomatoes user saying, “Not sure why the score is so low on this one…my wife and I both enjoyed it. The first half of the movie is REALLY good. The second half had a few questionable things but overall it was a good movie.”

Another adds, “Watching this movie almost 23 years after being released....It makes you appreciate the effectiveness and delivery of the message of how easily this country could be put into a nuclear war. While the movie has its shortcomings in trying to have a romantic more human side, it's not needed as the human side comes from the thought of morals and ethics and blatant right and wrong.”

I happen to agree. I do think the balance of trying to romanticize this film wasn’t needed, especially for the time period we’re talking about, but it does the job of being entertaining. Plus, I can’t think of another movie that has Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman in it (at least to this capacity), so that’s an enjoyable element as well.

You can stream The Sum of All Fears on Netflix now.