I liked the premise, but felt the film could have started about half way through and concentrated on this second half. As it was, the second half just lost me as it groped around aimlessly in some sort of forced ra-ra mode. There was little time reference, continuity, and certainly no character development. I see what Tom Clancy is trying to say, but as usual he does it with all the subtlety of a brick over the head and it doesn't help that in trying to compress all he has to say, into a less than two hour movie, it all just becomes confused. Frederick Forsyth has the same problem when transferred onto the big screen - although at least Freddy is plausible and has some real experience with what he writes about. The CIA is just a little too slick here - love how those cell phones just keep on working... anywhere! Affleck is no Harrison Ford, no, no, no, or even a Baldwin for that matter. God help us all if we're relying on him (or his acting) to save the world. He's about a three on the cute scale for me - how anyone could give him a twelve is beyond me. Freeman is wonderful as usual. The tension is well portrayed in the situation rooms, but I can't help but think even a George Bush has more backbone than the President in this film. This is a really bad film, which is a pity because they could have done so much better - even with Affleck.