Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

The 'Red October' is a silent submarine. Virtually undetectable on sonar, it constitutes a deadly first strike weapon, more than enough to tip the nuclear balance in the Soviets' favour. No sooner has it left port on its maiden voyage than Captain Raimus (Connery, terrific) breaks from the official course and heads for the US. Will he start a war, or defect? Despite the Cold War implications (the action is set disingenuously before Gorbachev), there's enough nuclear frisson and multi-lateral cynicism here to evoke Fail Safe, if not Dr Strangelove. McTiernan guides us surely threough the convolutions of an admittedly over-complicated plot, and adeptly links hi-tech with character. At its best, with Soviets, Americans and Raimus all at cross-purposes, the movie is an engrossing and exciting battle of wits. But when it attemptsto suggest an interior life in the characters beyond the job at hand, the results are at best perfunctory, more often corny, despite the high-calibre cast.

Author: TCh 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 135 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.