The Hunt For Red October

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

Runtime: 135 minutes

Directed by: John McTiernan

Starring: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, Courtney B. Vance

From: Paramount

I've begun the process of catching up here; barring any laptop complications (long story) I'll post another review here in a few hours and two more reviews will go up tomorrow.

This is one of two movies that AMC Theatres is playing in tribute to Sean Connery; as I've viewed Goldfinger plenty of times in the past and don't need to do a new review of it, I went with this famous adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel instead, the one that started the Jack Ryan franchise... even though it was the only time Alec Baldwin was in the role. Baldwin is not one of my favorite people due to some of his real life actions but I can't fault his acting performances, including in this film. Then again, this also has Jeffrey Jones, someone convicted of a serious crime against an underaged boy... for anyone who is seriously not a fan of his for that reason, at least he's only on screen for a few minutes.

This has a hell of a cast... everyone from James Earl Jones and Tim Curry to Stellan Skarsgard, Sam Neill and Courtney B. Vance. It is an exciting Cold War tale where a Soviet sub commander goes rogue and everyone is befuddled in what to do against someone who has a new-fangled sub that due to real life technology (well, it's still theoretical in 2020 because it's never worked reliably on such a large scale) cannot be detected by sonar. To think that Connery wasn't the first choice for this top-billed role, and accepted it at the last minute. His “Russian” accent is questionable but otherwise I can't fault him here.

While it's a plot that I realized while going home is not the sort of thing you want to scrutinize too hard, overall this was a real good time between the quality direction from John McTiernan, the excellent sound design, the various scenes that are filled w/ maximum tension, and the various twists & turns the story has. Even though the current conflicts between the United States and Russia is different from the era when there was a Soviet Union, the story is not dated or has aged poorly... the ending scene and its greenscreen effects, however... be that as it may, it was another nice tribute on my part to a great actor and a nice way to spend a Sunday night.