In 1 9 8 4, the Soviet Union dispatches a ballistic missile nuclear submarine Red October in the Atlantic Ocean, heading towards the US. Its commander is Lithuanian Marko Ramius. Soon afterwards, other Soviet combat submarines follow it. The US military staff in Washington, D.C. assume an attack on the American east coast is imminent, but CIA analyst Jack Ryan has a different theory: Ramius wants to deflect to the American side. The Soviet ambassador lies that Ramius has gone crazy and wants to strike, telling the US to sink their submarine. Ryan boards US submarine USS Dallas and sends signals to Ramius, who evacuates his staff from Red October feigning technical problems, and allows Ryan inside, seeking US asylum. A Soviet submarine fires a torpedo, but thanks to skillful maneuvering by Red October and USS Dallas, the torpedo is lured to strike the Soviet submarine and sink it.
If you want to see Sean Connery playing a Lithuanian submarine commander who kills a Russian official named Putin, "The Hunt for Red October" is the right film for you, one of the last Cold War thrillers before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The competent director John McTiernan crafts a stylish, polished and suspenseful thriller thanks to aesthetic colors and a stunning, crystal-clear cinematography which make the film modern and fresh even today, whereas the charismatic Sean Connery is excellent in the role of Marko Ramius—in the first third, the movie keeps the viewers deliberately guessing, in uncertainty, as to what Ramius intentions really are: does he want to attack the US with ballistic missiles or just deflect to seek asylum? Alec Baldwin is also good as Jack Ryan, in his first film adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel, though there is not much of a character development or deeper psychological exploration than just that what is necessary for the bare minimum to keep the story going. Nonetheless, the story works at least for one engaging viewing, with some clever moments (the American submarine fires a torpedo at Red October, but then Greer (James Earl Jones), Deputy Director of CIA, presses a button and destroys said torpedo halfway, saying to a Navy official he was never there; the finale where the Red October and the USS Dallas maneuver to avoid a torpedo fired at them from a Soviet submarine, trying to destroy Red October so that its technology want fall into American hands, which reminds even a bit of the finale in "Star Trek VI"). A conventional, but effective and fluent thriller, so smooth that it will engage even viewers usually not that inclined towards these kind of films.
Grade:++
