The Hunt For Red October: Special Collector’s Edition DVD Review
Posted by Ryan Keefer on 05.08.2003
The first Jack Ryan movie falls victim to the double-dip…
Release Date: March 12, 1990
Rated PG
134 minutes
The Film
One of the things that helped me enjoy the Tom Clancy novels was his uncanny knack for detail. The first of the Tom Clancy books to make the big screen is arguably the best, combining much of the detail and suspense into a star studded film set in the late stages of the Cold War. Captain Marko Ramius (James Bond..whoops, Sean Connery) is a legendary Soviet Naval officer who has grown jaded from the Communist system, and looks to defect. Ramius is the captain of the Red October, a sub on its maiden voyage, has the honor of being the first sub to utilize a silent propulsion system, making it unrecognizable to sonar systems. Complicating the issue is Ramius’ boasting nature of his intent, which forces the Russians to send the fleet after him.
Meanwhile, the new technology’s use is alarming news to analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin, Ghosts of Mississippi) who relays this news to his superior, Admiral James Greer (James Earl Jones, Field of Dreams), and they in turn inform the National Security Advisor (Richard Jordan, Gettysburg). While the NSA and the government are concerned that the actions are leading to a possible pre-emptive strike on the US, Ryan believes that Ramius intends to defect. In a humorous bit of dialogue, Ryan is allowed the chance to explore the defection possibility, leading him onto the USS Enterprise, helmed by Joshua Painter (Fred Thompson, Law and Order). Further exploration sees him board the sub USS Dallas skippered by Bart Mancuso (Scott Glenn, Absolute Power). One of the things I enjoyed about the movie is that there was not a lot of extemporaneous dialogue to it, everything was focused on the matter at hand (Raimius’ defection/attack), even when Ramius’ theories about Admiral Halsey, while humorous, are a good deflating moment to kill some time, as it were, before a crucial scene to follow.
The Hunt for Red October also does an outstanding job in juggling the numerous locations within the movie, from the subs themselves, to Washington or to the Enterprise, and just enough time is spent in each setting to provide at lease one scene that turns out to be integral to the overall story. Throwing aside the lack of Russian accents on a Russian sub (thanks to Sam Neill for being one of the few that actually sticks with one the whole way!), it is an excellent spy thriller that helped to re-invigorate a previously stale genre.
The Video
The transfer seemed to be a bit better than before, with outstanding black levels and good contrast.
The Audio
Paramount certainly has a lot of work to do when it comes to double-dip Special Editions, but more importantly, this is their first foray into producing DTS tracks for their features. The track seemed a bit unbalanced at times, the dialogue seemed a bit lower in volume, and the action scenes seemed a bit higher, but there was some good use of the front and rear speakers at various times, and for a major studio effort, was pretty respectable.
The Special Features
The Special Features are minor, as there is a trailer, along with a 30-minute retrospective called Beneath the Surface. There isn’t a reference point on the feature to determine exactly when it was done, but recent interviews with Baldwin, Glenn, Jones, producer Mace Neufeld and director John McTiernan and various ILM team members are featured, along with a on set interview with Connery. It’s a decent feature, with the first half primarily focusing on casting while the 2nd half talked about the filming that cinematographer Jan De Bont used for the subs, the sets used for the subs themselves, as well as ILM’s process to shoot the subs. Some trivia is mentioned on here also. Try picturing German Klaus Maria Brandauer as the first choice for Ramius, and Kevin Costner as the first choice for Jack Ryan, and wonder if the movie would have turned out to be the blockbuster it is. McTiernan provides a Director Commentary also, and I first thought it was going to be pretty good (forgetting that I hadn’t heard about his previous commentary work), but I put the disc in, and listened to a soft spoken guy, that leaves a lot of gaps of dead air while he watches the film, and no more real information is revealed about what looked like a very tough, but memorable shoot. It’s an arduous task trying to listen to it, and the general tone of his talk seemed to fall in one of two areas: I hope what I did on this shot isn’t too obvious, or whether or not this scene worked, I don’t know. As much as I tried to get into listening to this track, it was tough. And if, by some rhyme or reason, McTiernan does manage to read this review, John, I hope you don’t take my remarks too seriously, but there had to have been more behind the movies you’ve made, and you’ve made some good ones, out with the stories!
Film: 8.0
Video: 8.0
Audio: 7.0
Special Features: 6.0
The 411: Assuming the Special Edition label is for Paramount’s first DTS production, The Hunt For Red October deserves praise for the good transfer and above average DTS soundtrack. Great drama, action and sound (combined with the low price) make it an easy recommendation to add to any DVD enthusiast’s library.
