The Hunt for Red October

"It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets. Now they will tremble again - at the sound of our silence. The order is: engage the silent drive." - Commander Ramius

release year: 1990
genre: action
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/18/26 and 3/2/14 and home DVD, 7/22/01

synopsis: The Soviet Union's best sub captain steals their new sub and heads for the United States, with everyone in pursuit.

impressions: Highly entertaining, with good submarine/naval action, character drama, and a solid political/military plot drawing on the Cold War. It had an underlying current of international/war potential that keeps the viewer engaged and paying attention to the little details.

acting: Sean Connery was great as the Russian captain Ramius, who takes charge of things and is quietly competent. Alec Baldwin is CIA guy Jack Ryan, whose specialty is seaborne warfare, and did a good job here. Scott Glenn is also good as the U.S. sub captain who's chasing the Russian sub. Sam Neill is Connery's XO on that sub, and also turned in a strong performance.

final word: Great action/drama, well worth seeing.

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