Review of The Hunt for Red October (1990) by Kai82 — 03 Jul 2021

A classic movie that is at the same time highly valued but rarely spoken about anymore. It has a good cast, tactical cat and mouse games atop on a good story. Lets start at the beginning. The movie is based of the (debut) book from Tom Clancy and is also the first appearance of Jack Ryan who will become one of his most famous characters.

The story is set in the cold war era in1984 and starts when the legendary Russian submarine captain Marko Ramius is given the command of the “Red October” a new type of submarine called Typhoon class.

It has a new type of impulse engine that makes it practically invisible to (passive) sonar. After an American submarine shadowing the Red October losses contact all alarm bells ring in the USA. Even more a bit later the Soviets deployed all their available navy assets to hunt down Ramius.

It seems he got mad and wants to attack the USA on his own. However CIA analyst Jack Ryan has a different idea and believes that Ramius wants to defect and hand over the submarine to the USA. With this set up the story starts.

It is engaging, immersive and is enhanced by the good characters. I like also the suspense and tactical cat and mouse games. It is no wonder that it worked well because the book was a bestseller and started Tom Clancy’s legacy as legendary novelist.

Director John McTiernan successfully adapted the book into a great movie and I praise him for this. Lets continue with the cast. We have a lot of great actors for the movie. Sean Connery is a fantastic captain Marko Ramius.

It is one of his great performances even when it is not as much praised as his other roles. He fully delivers his role. Alec Baldwin plays an excellent Jack Ryan that is truly convincing. Sidenote it is an interesting discussion topic which actor is the best Jack Ryan.

Back to the movie. Stellan Skarsgard as captain Tupolev is really good and I wanted more of him in the movie. The other roles have fine actors too with for example Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, Scott Glenn or Joss Ackland.

A truly good cast. I enjoyed how they fill their roles with life and make them believable characters with understandable motives. Visually the movie creates an intense and realistic feeling atmosphere.

They put a lot of effort into the sets and details. I highly appreciate this but must remark that I have not even basic level of understanding about the Navy, how life on a submarines is and naval warfare in general like most of the viewers.

I say a realistic approach is wasted on most if the main audience does not have the knowledge to evaluate it (In an entertainment movie. For a documentary it is a no brainer must have). The soundtrack by Basil Poledouris is amazing and also nearly never brought up on favorite list.

It enhance the atmosphere. Overall this was a movie I enjoyed a lot. It is a classic for its time and the good performance is worth an additional point to get a 10/10 rating. Worth watching and remembering.