The Hunt for Red October (1990)'s comments

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Earring72

Exciting, complex spy thriller still holds up after 20years.

11 years 3 months ago

The Hunt for Red October has always been, to me, the only memorable Jack Ryan film made. I couldn't tell you want happens in the Harrison Ford ones, and haven't seen Ben Affleck or Chris Pine films, but I have a vague sense that they are action films, whereas Red October is more of a procedural spy thriller à la Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The submarine action is tense and authentic and our hero, underplayed by Alec Baldwin, is just a very smart CIA analyst with no special action hero skills. His opposite number, the Soviet sub captain played by Sean Connery, wins every scene anyway by sheer gravitas, but he too is a smart man with a complicated and risky plan. And that's how Red October stays relevant to modern audiences: Brainy heroes triumphing over impossible odds. "Cool action" is so easily trumped by the next action film to come down the pipeline (though obviously, director James McTiernan is quite capable in that department).

8 years 10 months ago