Movie: The Hunt From Red October (1990)

(This much delayed piece finally surfaces!)

'The Hunt from Red October' is a movie that is purest Connery at its heart which results in a schism in that it is also half about Alec Baldwin in one of his finest roles. That's right, Alec Baldwin is really good in this, and he gets overshadowed by one of the great screen presences, in this case playing a Scottish Lithuanian. It's marvelous, in a way, how Sean Connery has played Scottish variants of so many nationalities. In 'Highlander' he was a Scottish Spanish-Egyptian, in 'The Untouchables' a Scottish Irishman and in 'First Knight' a Scottish King Arthur. He's good in them all, and it's entirely down to his presence. The man radiates through cinema screens, and poor Alec Baldwin never stood a chance. Despite all this hyperbole this does represent his last iconic role before falling prey to the decline of the very concept of film icons in the 1990s.

So, back to this movie, which is an adaptation of the 1984 novel of the same name from Tom Clancy and is directed by John 'Die Hard' McTiernan. This is an example of what I believe to be a now extinct or near-extinct type of movie, name the thriller. Practically everything you see in contemporary times is really an action thriller, which is really just an action movie. Practically no action occurs in the whole movie, with the exception of a submarine dogfight near the end which is very reminiscent of 'Star Trek II'. Gosh, 'Star Trek II' is the movie that keeps on going.

In broad strokes and against the real-world backdrop of the Berlin Wall coming down and the perestroika rumbling through the Soviet Bloc, Connery plays veteran Soviet submarine commander Marco Ramius and decides to take the newly built 'silent' missile submarine with him to the US as he defects with his officers (barring the doctor) and unwitting crew, lest the boat be used as a first strike vehicle. Alec Baldwin plays the CIA analyst Jack Ryan who works all this out as the Soviet Fleet sails to stop the 'Red October' and its 'renegade' captain, and has to go into the field to negotiate the deal. That's the story, and it's a finely made movie too that just couldn't be sold now, as it's an independent style movie with a blockbuster's budget. That's what wrong with film making now but we know that already and move on.

In addition to the two main story strands of Ramius and Ryan, we also have diplomatic shenanigans (word chosen very carefully) in Washington, James Earl Jones doing some sneaking, and one of the Skarsgaard's being overly Russian on a second Soviet sub. What's left to be asked? Well, what's good and what's bad?

The casting is good, and even stellar, with Connery masterfully stealing scenes from allcomers despite never doing anything and Baldwin overperforming in a role for which he's ninety percent correct and ten percent too nice. That pretty much sums up the Jack Ryan character here: He's a very nice man. The plotting is very good and lifted almost completely from the book, with some simplification in the process, and is strong although long. The length is the rock that breaks the beaker, in that is too long for what it does, and could have been adapted more in what is becoming mantra for me. Adapt it more or adapt it less, people! Sam Neill plays one of Ramius's officers who is very nice and predictably gets killed in the Sam Neill fashion and there's plenty of tension deep under the ocean surface where noone can hear you scream... Actually it's easier to hear you scream under the surface, so there's plenty of tension deep under the surface where everyone can hear you scream.

Overall this is a fine movie which sits just a little quirkily off to the side of where it might best be placed, but it's a thriller and they don't make those any more, and what's more it's a man's thriller. Much as women appreciate 'Jaws' far less than men allegedly, so it is true for 'The Hunt For Red October'.

I like this movie.

Oliver.