The Hunt for Red October

Synopsis

A Soviet submarine captain decides he’d quite like to defect to the United States.

Unfortunately he happens to command the most advanced nuclear submarine ever built.

And neither side is entirely convinced what he’s planning.

The Soviets think he’s gone rogue.

The Americans think it’s a trap.

The politicians are panicking.

The military wants answers.

And one CIA analyst is trying to convince everybody that perhaps they should stop shooting at the man for five minutes and actually listen to what he’s trying to do.

What follows is part Cold War thriller, part submarine drama and part enterprise merger project with torpedoes.

Review

There are films that you enjoy.

There are films that you respect.

And then there are films that somehow end up becoming comfort food.

The Hunt for Red October falls firmly into the third category.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it.

And every time I find myself drawn back into exactly the same scenes.

Not the action.

Not the explosions.

Not even Sean Connery.

It’s the thinking.

One scene in particular stands out.

Jack Ryan is trying to understand why a Soviet captain would steal a nuclear submarine.

Then he asks the question.

How do you get the crew off a nuclear submarine?

And suddenly everything clicks.

As somebody who spends most of his working life solving technology problems, I love moments like that.

The answer wasn’t hidden.

The answer was sitting in plain sight.

The challenge was asking the right question.

Most IT projects would benefit from more Jack Ryan and fewer steering committees.

Sean Connery is excellent throughout.

Playing a Russian captain with perhaps the most Scottish accent ever recorded on film should not work.

Yet somehow it does.

Nobody questions it.

Nobody cares.

In fact, one of the most remarkable achievements in the entire film is that every Russian appears to speak flawless English.

Cold War diplomacy clearly included an exceptionally effective language training programme.

The supporting cast is equally strong.

James Earl Jones brings authority to every scene he’s in.

Scott Glenn is outstanding.

And Jonesy deserves special mention.

Because if there’s a real hero in this film, it’s probably the sonar operator quietly listening to the ocean while everybody else is trying to start World War Three.

The film also does something many modern thrillers struggle with.

It trusts the audience.

There are no superhero powers.

No multiverse.

No secret ancient prophecy.

Just intelligent people making difficult decisions with incomplete information.

Imagine that.

What Stops It Being a Perfect Score?

The book.

This is one of the rare occasions where I’ve actually read the source material.

And as good as the film is, there are elements of the book that simply didn’t make it onto the screen.

That’s understandable.

Books get hundreds of pages.

Films get a couple of hours.

But it does leave the story feeling slightly compressed in places.

A note on Russian Accents: the official score is Classified. We are not authorised to discuss this further.

Final Verdict

The Hunt for Red October remains one of the best submarine films ever made.

It’s intelligent.

It’s tense.

It’s brilliantly acted.

And unlike many modern films, it doesn’t need endless action sequences to keep you interested.

If you’ve never seen it, watch it.

If you’ve already seen it, watch it again.

And if you’re involved in a complex merger project, pay attention.

Because at its core, this entire film is simply a highly complicated organisational transition programme with a nuclear submarine attached.

Completely Unqualified Verdict: One ping only.