The Hunt For Red October

I'm not too proud to admit when I'm mistaken, and The Hunt For Red October is certainly one of those times; a film I had prematurely written off as a vintage (and by vintage, read 1990) novel-turned-blockbuster cash-in of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series. And while some of that sentiment is still no doubt the case, the resulting movie is even now still worthy of the plaudits gained at the time of its release, easily standing up to any number of its more modern Cold War cousins. Undoubtedly, part of the charm comes from the unexpectedly strong cast list (personal feelings about Alec Baldwin aside), with Sean Connery's familiarly soothing tones distracting from some otherwise questionable Russian accents. And despite some dubious blue screen work (thankfully kept to minimum) doing its best to interrupt proceedings, the movie as a whole skips along at a pace, with very little fat to trim from the edges. Perhaps it's because of the astonishing attention to detail (presumably coming from the original text), or perhaps it's just because of Sean Connery's most excellent pronunciation of the phrase "sonar nets", but either way, Hunt For Red October is certainly not one to be written off. Lesson learned.

"Thish blue shcreen ish worryingly poor. Shomeone'sh going to figure out we're not where we shay we are."