"The Hunt For Red October"

Title: "The Hunt For Red October"
Director: John McTiernan
Producer: Mace Neufeld
Editing: Dennis Virkler and John Wright
Composer: Basil Poledouris
Starring:
- Alec Baldwin as Dr. Jack Ryan
- Sean Connert as Cpt. 1st Class Marko Ramius
- Scott Glenn as Cmdr. Bart Mancuso
- Sam Neill as Cpt. 2nd Class Vasily Borodin
- James Earl Jones as Vice Admiral James Greer

Plot and Critical Review: Marko Ramius, a Lithuanian, is captain of the Soviet Navy's newest Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine, the Red October, equipped with a revolutionary silent propulsion system known as a caterpillar drive. A naval veteran with nearly 40 years of experience, he is considered the best officer in the Soviet Navy. At the start of the movie he is shown taking the boat out to sea, ostensibly for its first exercise with other units of the Russian Fleet. The captain, however, has another plan—to navigate the submarine to the coast of America in order to defect, as he considers the Red October to be a first-strike weapon that cannot be left in the hands of the Soviets.

To achieve this, he must murder Ivan Putin, his political officer, who alone amongst his officers was not hand-picked in support of this action. With the ship's doctor, Yevgeniy Petrov, and cook, Igor Loginov, as witnesses, Ramius takes the late political officer's missile key, granting him sole control over the ship's missile systems. After this is done, Ramius reads substitute orders to his crew to support the mission (stating they will conduct missile drills off the coast of New York City and then sail to Havana for shore leave), and begins his long journey. He is at first discovered and tracked by the USS Dallas, an American attack submarine, but upon activation of the caterpillar drive he is able to break away. Meanwhile, Soviet authorities read a letter posted by Ramius prior to his departure, announcing his intention to defect. The Soviet Navy immediately puts to sea to locate and sink the Red October. One of the ships that joins in the hunt is the Alfa-class attack submarine V.K. Konovalov, captained by a former student of Ramius. This causes a stir in Washington, D.C. when the activity triggers a reciprocal deployment of U.S. assets, as Russian intentions are unclear.

At this point, Central Intelligence Agency analyst Jack Ryan, who had been researching the submarine as a project, puts forth the proposition that Ramius may be defecting with the Red October. The President's National Security Advisor, Jeffrey Pelt, suggests that Ryan go to the North Atlantic Fleet (to prevent the risk of the Soviets overhearing their radio transmissions) and somehow make contact with the submarine before the U.S. is forced to sink it. At various points throughout the film, Pelt is conversing with the Soviet ambassador, who first requests American assistance to locate the Red October, and in a subsequent meeting, is instructed to ask the President to help them find the sub and destroy it, falsely claiming that Ramius' letter declared his intention to attack the United States on his own authority. Meanwhile, Red October is moving through the Reykjanes Ridge when its silent drive suddenly fails; Ramius realizes that there is a saboteur aboard and must carry out his original plans quicker, while not alerting the saboteur.

Ryan, who has arrived on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the North Atlantic, is greeted with less than enthusiasm by the ship's captain, at least partly because, despite being a civilian, he is wearing a naval officer's uniform at the request of the CIA director, Vice-Admiral James Greer. The naval task force commander, Rear Admiral Painter, criticizes the captain's objections, remarking that Ryan had been a Marine officer and a Naval Academy graduate before service-related injuries forced his medical retirement. Acceding to Ryan's request to be delivered to the attack submarine USS Dallas, which has been tracking the submarine, they put him on a helicopter which takes him to its location.

After surviving an attack from Soviet Naval Aviation's Tu-142, the Red October finishes its journey through the underwater canyon, where the USS Dallas, through the efforts of a diligent SONAR operator, Ronald "Jonesey" Jones locates it again. The arrival of Ryan forces them to break contact with the sub, whose officers have meanwhile deduced that the Dallas had indeed found the characteristic signature of the Red October's drive, and was able to locate her.

Shortly after Ryan's arrival, the Dallas receives orders from the Pentagon (based on the information from the Russians) to sink the Red October. As the boat prepares to fire, Ryan convinces the captain of the Dallas, Bart Mancuso (Scott Glenn), to make contact with the Red October to facilitate the defection. Through use of morse-code and sonar pings, the Red October and Dallas agree to head south towards the Grand Banks.

The plan goes as follows: Ramius and his Chief Engineer stage a false reactor overload to force the vessel to surface and as Red October surfaces it is confronted by a Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, and sent a morse-code message via signal lamp not to submerge, or be fired upon. Ramius keeps only the officers loyal to him on Red October, and orders the rest of the crew off, claiming that he and the officers are going to scuttle the ship, rather than let it fall into the hands of the U.S. Consistent with the charade, an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter launched from the frigate fires a torpedo towards the Red October, but Admiral Greer, on board the frigate, detonates the torpedo before it hits the submarine.

Ryan, Mancuso and Jonesey travel to the Red October via DSRV Mystic and offer any support they can provide. Once Ramius realizes that he can trust them he formally requests asylum for himself and his officers in the United States of America, which Mancuso grants. All goes well until Soviet torpedoes are heard in the water, from the Konovalov that has also found the Red October. After the first torpedo is fired upon the Red October (it does not acquire its target because it had the incorrect ranges), Ramius orders Ryan to steer the ship directly into the second torpedo's path. Everyone else insists that Ryan not do so, but Ryan reluctantly complies. When the torpedo hits the hull, it breaks apart without detonating, and it is finally realized on both sides that the maneuver was a tactic to close the gap before the torpedo had a chance to arm.

Concurrently, the saboteur, revealed to be Loginov, shoots at the captain, missing and instead fatally wounding the executive officer, Vasily Borodin, along with damaging the fire control panel (leaving Red October unable to return fire). An alarm reveals that Loginov has headed into the missile launch area, and Ramius realizes that Loginov intends to ignite a missile launch mechanism, which would destroy the Red October. Ryan and Ramius go after Loginov, while Mancuso takes command of the Red October to deal with the external threat. As Ramius predicted, the Konovalov fires another torpedo which arms at launch. While chasing Loginov, Ramius is shot and injured, leaving Ryan to search for him in the submarine's missile bay. As Loginov attempts to (and nearly does) detonate the launch mechanism of one of the missiles, he is gunned down by Ryan. Meanwhile, USS Dallas and Red October make a series of evasive maneuvers, causing the torpedo to target the Konovalov instead and destroy it. The crew of the Red October who had evacuated and were on board a U.S. Navy rescue ship witnessed the explosion and believed it to be the Red October that had been destroyed. Ultimately the submarine finds haven in the Penobscot River in Maine, and Ryan flies home—too exhausted to consider his fear of flying as he had not had a decent night's sleep since before the film begins—with a teddy bear that he had promised for his daughter.

In my review of "The Abyss" I commented how the pressure (literally) of the ocean depths is exciting to me. This film is full of that sort of pressure from start to finish. A power-house cast and special effects drive Tom Clancy's novel to the extreme. It is a magnificent film. When I was in high school I rented "The Hunt..." from Blockbuster and kept it for 75 days...yes, there was a late fee to be paid. This is one of my very favorite movies, an excellent display of casting, editing, and communicating political and emotional tension in physically tense moments. The action is perfectly married to the Soviet paranoia and American "objective", this film is a true action-drama.

My Rating: 8.5/10

The "Reel Revelation": "Full Ahead, Flank!"

When someone says "flank" in the nautical world they are referring to the a speed a particular vessel can achieve that is beyond its maximum operational speed. If Captain Kirk had served on a submarine instead of a star ship he would have said "Go to flank!" instead of "Scotty, give me more power!" While a ship moves much faster at flank speed it also burns up fuel at an incredible rate and can remain at flank speed for a short period of time due to the super heating of the engine and its components. Vessels of every kind (especially submarines) should only be taken to flank speed when in moments of severe danger; being chased by an aircraft or when in combat with another vessel.

What is your "flank speed"? We all know how it feels to push ourselves to the maximum, know that we're at the peak of our efficiency, and then push ourselves a little bit further. At first we feel like we are flying and our speed is beyond belief. Suddenly anything can be achieved at a moment's notice; all of our gifts, talents, and powers are working at maximum efficiency. And then, suddenly, we realize that we're running low on fuel, that the pistons and gears are running at a nearly uncontrollable rate...that we cannot maintain our speed for much longer. What happens to vehicles that run at uncontrollable speeds? They have "accidents", but what happens when we're running at super-speeds cannot be called an accident as we knew full well what would happen. We pull ourselves out of the wreckage and come face to face with the stifling reality that we've hurt ourselves and, most likely, failed to really achieve anything.

There are times when we must "hasten" to accomplish a certain task, times when we will be called upon to act with speed and careful aim. When God calls us to a task that must be accomplished with speed, however, he will give us the fuel (or whatever you want to call it) necessary to remain safe and the wisdom to remain aware of our performance. God will never summon us to a task that will compromise our effectiveness as servants of the Gospel. Even those who go to their death for the sake of the Gospel do so under the protective hand of the Father, and their courage is great, indeed. Those who are in congregational ministry (or full-time ministry of any kind) know how easy it can be to run at "flank speed" and become easily "burned out." It's quite possible we've all met people so "on fire" for God that they feel they can accomplish anything. While their enthusiasm enables them to do much for the Kingdom of God they will certainly find themselves short on energy, inspiration, and patience as the "engine" of their life overheats and breaks down.

Like any runner set upon a long race we require pacing. Like any nautical vessel set upon a long "steam" (voyage) we require a sensible and wise plan of resource consumption. If we do not take the time to check the speed at which we're living we will find ourselves on the side of the road, a wreck for all to see, and will have to endure the difficult and often painful process of personal repair. Let us be thankful that even when we crash and burn, God, who is faithful, will lovingly collect our shattered lives and reconstruct us in his own image; in the image of Jesus.

See you tomorrow - E.T.

P.S. - Today's review is dedicated to my good friend and co-worker, Paul Collins, who shares my love of submarine films, in particular "The Hunt For Red October."