“THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” (1990) Review

“THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” (1990) Review

I will be the first to admit that I have never been an ardent reader of Tom Clancy’s novels. Many who know me would find this strange, considering my penchant for the movie adaptations of his stories. The first I ever saw was “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER”, the 1990 adaptation of Clancy’s 1984 novel of the same title.

The last remnants of the Cold War – at least the one between the United States and the Soviet Union – were being played out when “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” hit the screen. Realizing this, director John McTiernan, screenwriter Larry Ferguson (who also had a role in the film) and producer Mace Neufeld decided to treat Clancy’s story as a flashback by setting the movie in the year Clancy’s novel was published. The movie begins with the departure of the new Soviet submarine, the Red October, which possesses a new caterpillar drive that renders it silent. In command of the Red October is Captain Marko Ramius. Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. Navy submarine called the U.S.S. Dallas has a brief encounter with the Red October before it loses contact due to the Soviet sub’s caterpillar drive. This encounter catches the attention of C.I.A. analyst Jack Ryan, who embarks upon studying the Red October’s schematics.

Unbeknownst to the C.I.A., Captain Ramius has put in motion a plan for the defection of his senior officers and himself. They also intend to commit treason by handing over the Red October to the Americans. Unfortunately, Ramius has left a letter stating his intentions to his brother-in-law, a Soviet government official. This leads the Soviet ambassador in Washington D.C. to inform the Secretary of Defense that the Red October has been lost at sea and requires the U.S. Navy’s help for a “rescue mission”. However, Ryan manages to ascertain that Ramius plans to defect. When the Soviets change tactics and claim that Captain Ramius has become a renegade with plans to fire a missile at the U.S. coast, Ryan realizes that he needs to figure out “how” Ramius plans to defect before the Soviet or U.S. Navies can sink the Red October.

I might as well put my cards on the table. After twenty-three years, “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” holds up very well as a Cold War thriller. What prevented it from becoming a dated film were the filmmakers’ decision to treat Clancy’s tale as a flashback to the last decade of the Cold War. I have never read Clancy’s novel. In fact, I have only read two of his novels – “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger”. Because of this, I could not judge the movie’s adaptation of the 1984 novel. But there is no doubt that “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” is a first-rate – probably superb thriller. Screenwriters Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart made another first-rate contribution to the script by not rushing the narrative aspect of the story. The movie is not some fast-paced tale stuffed with over-the-top action. Yes, there is action in the film – mainly combat encounters, a murder, hazardous flying in a rain storm and a shoot-out inside the Red October’s engine room. And it is all exciting stuff. However, Ferguson and Stewart wisely detailed the conversations held between Ramius and his fellow defectors, Ryan’s attempts to figure out Ramius’ defection plans and his efforts to convince various high-ranking U.S. Naval officers not to accept the Soviets’ lies about the Red October’s captain.

“THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” also features some excellent performances. Sean Connery gave one of his best performances as the Red October’s enigmatic and wily captain, Markus Ramius. Alec Baldwin was equally impressive as the slightly bookish, yet very intelligent C.I.A. analyst, Jack Ryan. A part of me believes it is a pity that he never portrayed the role again. The movie also boasted fine performances from James Earl Jones as Ryan’s boss, C.I.A. Deputy Director James Greer; Scott Glenn as the intimidating captain of the U.S.S. Dallas, Bart Mancuso; Sam Neill as Ramius’ very loyal First Officer, Vasily Borodin; Fred Dalton Thompson as Rear Admiral Joshua Painter; Courtney B. Vance as the Dallas’ talented Sonar Technician, Ronald “Jonesy” Jones; Tim Curry as the Red October’s somewhat anxious Chief Medical Officer (and the only one not part of the defection) Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov; and Joss Ackland as Ambassador Andrei Lysenko. Stellan Skarsgård made a dynamic first impression for me as Viktor Tupolev, the Soviet sub commander ordered to hunt and kill Ramius. And Richard Jordan was downright entertaining as the intelligent and somewhat manipulative National Security Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Pelt. The movie also featured brief appearances from the likes of Tomas Arana, Gates McFadden (of “STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION”) and Peter Firth (of “SPOOKS”).

Before one starts believing that I view “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” as perfect, I must admit there were a few aspects of it that I found a bit troublesome for me. The movie has a running time of 134 minutes. Mind you, I do not consider this as a problem. However, the pacing seemed in danger of slowing down to a crawl two-thirds into the movie. It took the Dallas’ encounter with the Red October to put some spark back into the movie again. And could someone explain why Gates McFadden portrayed Ryan’s wife, Dr. Cathy Ryan, with a slight British accent? Especially since she was an American-born character?

Despite these minor quibbles, “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER” is a first-rate spy thriller that has withstood the test of time for the past 33 years. And I believe the movie’s sterling qualities own a lot to John McTiernan’s excellent direction, a well-written script by Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart, and superb performances from a cast led by Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.

“JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” (2014) Review

“JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” (2014) Review

There have been four previous movies that featured the literary character, Jack Ryan. But those four movies were adaptations of novels written by the late Tom Clancy. Paramount Pictures released a fifth movie featuring the character called “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT”. Unlike the previous four movies, this fifth one is not based upon a Clancy novel.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by Adam Cozad and David Koepp, “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” is presented as a reboot that chronicles Jack Ryan’s early years as a C.I.A. analyst. I realize that the 2002 movie, “THE SUM OF ALL FEARS” also featured Jack’s early years as an analyst. But Jack was already established with the C.I.A. in that film. “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” also chronicled Jack’s years as a graduate student in Britain, his time as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan and how he ended up being recruited into the C.I.A. The movie also revealed how he had recovered from a deadly helicopter crash and met his future wife, Dr. Cathy Muller. But more importantly, the movie’s basic plot is about Jack uncovered a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack and send the country into another Great Depression.

Once the circumstances leading to Jack’s recruitment into the C.I.A. was conveyed, Cozad and Koepp’s screenplay began with Jack working undercover as a compliance officer at a Wall Street stock brokerage, looking for suspect financial transactions that indicated terrorist activity. After the Russian Federation loses a key vote before the United Nations, Jack discovers that trillions of dollars held by Russian organizations have disappeared. A large number of those funds are controlled by a veteran of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Viktor Cherevin. The latter and a group of Russian politicans are seeking revenge against the Americans for the latter’s intervention in that particular invasion. Since Jack’s Wall Street employer does business with Cherevin and Jack discovers that certain accounts are inaccessible to him as auditor, he has a reason to visit Moscow and investigate. Unfortunately for Jack, he narrowly survives an assassination attempt upon his arrival in Moscow . . . and is forced to send out an S.O.S. to the C.I.A. for help. Even worse, his fiancée Cathy suspects him of having an affair and flies to Moscow to confront him. In the end, Jack and his C.I.A. recruiter William Harper not only have to find a way to stop Cherevin, but also keep Cathy out of danger.

Russians and terrorist attacks. Hmmmm . . . I have noticed that the use of Russian politics as a bogeyman has been very popular in Hollywood political thrillers lately. Is this due to the unpopularity of that country’s current leader, Vladimir Putin? I wonder. Am I putting down the plot for “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT”? As I just hinted, I did not find the use of post-Soviet Russians as villains original. And the villains’ goal to destroy the U.S. economy did not seem original, as well. I have four more complaints about the movie. One, I never saw the necessity of including Jack’s years before the C.I.A. – as a graduate student in Britain and his time in the U.S. Marines. In fact, it was not really necessary for screenwriters to designate the William Harper character as Jack’s recruiter, since he was more important in Jack’s efforts to prevent Cherevin’s plot to destroy the U.S. economy. I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed by Cozad and Koepp’s use of the Cathy Muller character as a damsel-in-distress – especially in the movie’s second half. And speaking of the second half, once Jack and Harper fly back to the U.S. to prevent the attack, the plot seemed to rush forward with the speed of a runaway train. As for the movie’s title – I found it cumbersome and amateurish. Enough said.

Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT”. Despite a plot that lacked originality, I must admit that I found it entertaining. Three-fourths of the plot regarding the terrorist attack struck me as well-paced. And I must admit that possessed a great deal of suspense – especially in the sequence that featured Jack’s attempt to download Cherevin’s files in the middle of a dinner party between him, Cherevin and Cathy in Moscow. The movie also had its share of first-rate action sequences. I was especially impressed by the assassination attempt on Jack inside his Moscow hotel room, Jack and Harper’s attempt to rescue the kidnapped Cathy from Cherevin during a car chase, and the final action scene in which Jack tries to prevent Cherevin’s son from blowing up Wall Street. I thought Kenneth Branagh handled those scenes very well. I was also impressed by his direction of two particular dramatic scenes – Cathy’s confrontation with Jack and Harper inside the younger man’s hotel room; along with Jack and Cathy’s tense dinner with Cherevin at a Moscow restaurant. The movie also benefited from Haris Zambarloukos’ sleek and colorful photography – especially the Moscow sequences, Martin Walsh’s editing in the Moscow hotel fight scene, the Cherevin dinner sequence and the final action sequence in Manhattan.

“JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” featured some pretty solid performances. Both Chris Pine and Keira Knightley were excellent as the younger Jack Ryan and Cathy Muller. And the two performers rose above the occasion to really shine in the scene that featured their characters’ Moscow confrontation about their relationship. Colm Feore and David Paymer gave brief, yet entertaining performances in the movie. It seemed a pity that they did not have more scenes. Alec Utgoff was properly villainous in a subtle way as the terrorist Aleksandr Borovsky. But I feel that the movie’s two best performances came from Kevin Costner and director Kenneth Branaugh, who portrayed Jack’s mentor William Harper and the main villain Viktor Cherevin. In a way, it almost seemed a pity that Costner was not the main hero of this story. He was excellent as the cool and resourceful Harper. More importantly, he reminded me – and a relative of mine – that he was charismatic as ever and had not lost his screen presence. Branaugh had the more difficult task of serving as the movie’s director, which he performed with great style; and portraying the movie’s leading villain. And he did a superb job of conveying Cherevin’s frightening personality without being over-the-top about it.

Considering that “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” was released in January, I was not expecting it to be some top-notch action thriller that usually rakes in a lot of money during the summer movie season. And the movie pretty much lived up to my expectations. I could never regard “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” as one of the better action movies I have seen. And I certainly do not regard it as highly as I do the other four movies in the Jack Ryan movie franchise. But as I had earlier pointed out, Kenneth Branagh still managed to direct the movie with a good deal of style and energy. The plot may not have been that original, but it still proved to be entertaining. And the first-rate performances from a cast led by Chris Pine did a lot to make this movie somewhat worthy to me.

“PATRIOT GAMES” (1992) Review

“PATRIOT GAMES” (1992) Review

I tried to recall the number of Hollywood movies made about Irish militants and their conflicts against the British government. And it occurred to me that very little have been made in which pro-Irish characters are portrayed as antagonists. Very little. One of them happened to be the 1992 movie, “PATRIOT GAMES”. And considering the rarity of such a scenario, it still surprises me that it was a big box office hit during the summer of 1992.

Based upon Tom Clancy’s 1987 novel, “PATRIOT GAMES” is a sequel to the 1990 film, “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER”. The movie began with retired CIA agent Jack Ryan on vacation with his family in London. They witnessed a terrorist attack on Lord William Holmes, British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II by terrorists. When Ryan intervened, one of the terrorists wounded him, but he managed to kill one of the assailants, Patrick Miller, while his older brother Sean looked on. The remaining attackers fled, while Sean was apprehended by the police.

While recovering, Ryan was called to testify in court against Miller, who turned out to be a member of a breakaway group of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Miller’s compatriots, including leader Kevin O’Donnell and a woman named Annette, helped Miller escape before he could be shipped to a prison on the Isle of Wright. Thirsting revenge for his brother’s death, Sean convinced his compatriots to help him murder Ryan and the latter’s family before they can continue their activities against Lord William Holmes and the British Crown.

“PATRIOT GAMES” proved to be a pretty solid action thriller. The narrative provided plenty of action, personal drama, political intrigue and suspense to maintain my interest in the story. I also have to give kudos to the three screenwriters for ensuring that each aspect of the story balanced well, without one aspect overwhelming another. The interesting thing is that all of this happened because of two things – Jack interfered in the assassination attempt on Lord Holmes and killed a young man, and two, the young man’s brother wanted revenge for his death.

The movie also featured some solid acting. And I mean solid. Aside from one performance, none of the others performances in the film did not particularly rock my boat. Samuel L. Jackson was two years away from stardom, when he appeared as Jack Ryan’s close friend, Lieutenant-Commander Robby Jackson. Patrick Bergin gave a decent and strong performance as leader of the IRA breakaway group, Kevin O’Donnell. Polly Walker ably supported him as his fellow compatriot and lover, a mysterious Englishwoman named Annette. James Earl Jones repeated his role as Admiral James Greer and gave a solid, if not memorable performance. James Fox was entertaining as the Royal Family’s cousin, Lord William Holmes. Thora Birch struck me as very charming in her portrayal of the Ryans’ young daughter Sally. And both David Threlfall and Alun Armstrong gave intense performances as British police officers, Inspector Robert Highland and Sergeant Owens. I was especially impressed by Threlfall. Fans of the “AGATHA CHRISTIE’S POIROT” series will be surprised to find Hugh Fraser (who portrayed Arthur Hastings) portray Lord William’s private secretary, Geoffrey Watkins. In fact, his performance was so low-key that I barely noticed him, until the final action sequence. J.E. Freeman was equally intense as CIA official Marty Cantor. I especially enjoyed Freeman’s scenes with star Harrison Ford in which their characters engage in quarrels over Ryan’s interest in rejoining the CIA.

When I had earlier stated that the movie featured one performance that did rock my boat, I did not mean Ford. The actor took over the Jack Ryan character, when Alec Baldwin (who had portrayed the character in “THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER”) proved to be unavailable. I thought Ford did a pretty damn good job and managed to capture Ryan’s more subtle personality rather well. But I did not find his performance particularly dazzling. Anne Archer replaced Gates McFadden (“STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION”) in the role of Dr. Cathy Ryan, the main character’s wife. And like Ford, she gave a performance that I thought was pretty good, but not particularly dazzling. Richard Harris proved some oomph in the role of Paddy O’Neil, the IRA spokesman, who struggles to convince the world at large that O’Donnell’s compatriots no longer are connected with his organization. But the one performance that really impressed me came from Sean Bean, who portrayed Sean Miller, the terrorist who wanted revenge against Ryan.

Despite my praise of the film, many will be surprised to learn that “PATRIOT GAMES” is my fourth favorite of the five movies based upon Clancy’s series or characters. Many would find this especially surprising, since the last two movies, “THE SUM OF ALL FEARS” (2002) and “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT” (2014), were not critically acclaimed. That would mean that I have a higher preference for one of the latter two films over “PATRIOT GAMES”. How could that be? Beauty or art is in the eye of the beholder . . . and I cannot help how I feel. I am not saying that “PATRIOT GAMES” is a terrible movie . . . or even a mediocre one. It is pretty damn good. But it did not take my breath away or fascinated me. My problem is that I did not find its plot – namely Jack Ryan dealing with a vengeful ex-IRA member – particularly fascinating. There did not seemed to be anything mind-boggling about it. Perhaps the subject matter was too personal for a tale penned by Tom Clancy. Another problem I had with “PATRIOT GAMES” is that aside from Sean Bean’s performance, I did not find the rest of them particularly dazzling or memorable. The most fascinating aspect of this film is that it featured three veterans of the “STAR WARS” movie franchise – Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.

Nevertheless, “PATRIOT GAMES” is still a pretty damn good movie. Harrison Ford managed to effortlessly take over the role of Jack Ryan from Alec Baldwin. He was supported by a solid cast that included a superb performance from Sean Bean. In the end, I believe it is still worthy of purchase for repeated viewings.