That was an excellent one.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I just rewatched this 20 Years from the last time I saw it. Despite some other reviews to the contrary this stands up remarkably well.Some amazing lines and a fairly complex plot, definitely recommend.

SPOILER: This is one of the best submarine and suspense films I have seen; however, for me "Das Boot" is in another class, for several reasons: It is set during wartime. Better yet, I always watch it in spoken German, with English subtitles . It makes for a better film. Hearing A Scottish accent from a Russian submarine captain is definitely a negative. Moreover, Sam Neill is Scottish as well, although his accent is not as strong as Connery's.I understand the language change, which Director John McTiernan gave credit where it was due. He said he got the idea from "Judgement at Nuremberg" (1961). It is done exactly the same way as it is done in this film - in the middle of the conversation between Ramius (Sean Connery) and Putin (Peter Firth) in Ramius' cabin (quite clever). I had a couple of beefs with this film: (they are Spoilers, I noted at the beginning)). One is after the Americans board the Red October: Jonesy, the sonar man on the USS Dallas gives all his ranges in yards, not meters, which is what is displayed and used aboard Russian ships (and the rest of the world, besides the UK and the US). That is a big goof. The other are the special effects, which (for me) are not that fantastic. Sure, when this film was made, they were not capable to what is seen only a decade later, and especially today. That is why it will never hold a candle to "Das Boot". It has hardly any real FX to speak of, and which makes the film much better. Director Wolfgang Peterson insisted on building an exact, full size replica of a U-boat. The cramped quarters, the crew running to the front of the ship for faster crash dives, a depth gauge which goes beyond crush depth, etc. add enourmously to the tension.Coincidentally, years later, Peterson directs "Air Force One" with the US President played by Harrison Ford (who plays "Jack Ryan" in 2 different films, right after Alec Baldwin in "Hunt for Red October".

Movie Review: "The Hunt for Red October" (1990)The very first Tom Clancy (1947-2013) Hollywood movie adaptation is a rocking blast of a motion picture.Director John McTiernan fully focuses on bringing the essence of an 387-page strong novel from 1984 to the screen, righteously turning down the job at "20th Century Fox" concerning "Die Hard 2" starring Bruce Willis.Thanks to leading actor Sean Connery as Russian submarine Captain Ramius and sublime supporting cqst from Sam Neill, Scott Glenn to James Earle Jones as U.S. Admiral, "The Hunt for Red October" is motion picture entertainment throughout.Actor Alec Baldwin pushes pencils and envelopes as soon-after iconic character of C.I.A. clerk turning operative Jack Ryan gets his moments of suspense in central usually interior meeting room ambience.Then Jan de Bont as director in charge of photography, including magnificient intense submarine interiors, when Hollywood major "Paramount" gratefully thanks producer Mace Neufeld of creating a modern action-thriller classic.Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

A very average film that never ventures into bad territory but never really ventures into enjoyable territory either. John McTiernan's film looks well made, and it is competently directed, but there was nothing memorable or involving about the story, till the climax, and the plot device is questionable, as the culprit of this twist certainly had no motive nor was there an explanation for why he decided to turn on everyone on board, and I'm of course not talking about Connery, I'm referring to the cook who seemed to just pick up a gun and open fire, see who he could shoot, and that was perhaps the most interesting moment of the film, excluding one or two brilliant scenes of acting from Connery and a cool sequence involving a fairly tense loose missile underwater, but all in all I was not too impressed, and found the film fairly boring a lot of the time, with its clichés, safe narrative and passable performances from the rest of the cast, among it were Alec Baldwin, Sam Neil and Stellan Skarsgaard. The Hunt for Red October just didn't leave me feeling impressed, it's slow pace constantly shows, the story and writing were routine and uninspired and dialogue like "When I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing there Lollipops", doesn't help the films case. This is safe, mediocre filmmaking that doesn't offer much in terms of entertainment or freshness.