The Hunt for Red October
Published September 21, 2013
Film info
- Title The Hunt for Red October
- Director John McTiernan
- Year 1990
- Run time 2hrs 14m
- Genres Adventure, Thriller, Action
- Tagline Invisible, silent, stolen
The hunt is on! A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. A lone CIA analyst has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it - because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find him, too.
Live Blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:00 | That text introduction has only served to totally confuse me. |
| 7:30 | James Earl Jones… that voice rumbles right to your soul. |
| 10:02 | He called him “sub driver.” That sounds too dull. Not pilot or sailor? |
| 15:40 | Woah, babelfish? |
| 21:01 | Generic docking collar. Even in submarines there are issues with proprietary connectors. |
| 27:46 | There are a variety of intriguing accents in this “Russian” crew. |
| 38:25 | Connery has gone ROGUE. |
| 44:45 | I still don’t think they should be smoking in the submarine. |
| 51:25 | Did that say USS Enterprise? I must be watching the wrong film! |
| 1:03:25 | Whenever someone says “The captain knows what he’s doing,” you have to think perhaps he doesn’t. |
| 1:08:11 | I wonder that they don’t get a case of Chinese whispers sometimes, orders are repeated so often down the line. |
| 1:18:57 | “…and I will have a pick-up truck.” Aspirations! |
| 1:28:06 | This Russian chap has lied twice now. Politicians, eh? |
| 1:30:37 | I’ve never been quite so glad for American patriotism that has their flag on their sleeve. Now I can tell them apart! |
| 1:37:30 | Actual up periscope. |
| 1:39:48 | Amazing use of morse code. I had no idea. |
| 1:52:16 | Oh, they’re speaking Russian again now. |
| 2:05:13 | Three way submarine war. |
Conclusions
It’s been a while since we watched a submarine movie, my obsession with them has faded a little in recent months. However, we’ve been super tired of late and it seemed like a great movie to spend a couple of hours on the sofa enjoying, particularly as it was recommended highly after we watched Crimson Tide.
Overall, I enjoyed it, and it’s definitely sparked up my obsession with submarines again. I thought it got a bit confusing in places, and I did find it difficult to keep which submarine was which in my mind. I later read that they tried to make the interiors a different colour for each one, particularly in the three-way battle at the end. I didn’t notice that, so that didn’t help me! I thought the accents were weird - I get that they didn’t want to speak Russian the whole time, but then perhaps could have decided if they were going to attempt Russian accents or not?
Most of the film stood the test of time, except one particularly dodgy torpedo shot, and some awful green screen right at the very end. I think, on balance, I liked Crimson Tide better, but still liked this one plenty.
**Rating: **3/5
Rating: 3 / 5