Rating: 
Summary: Faithfully reproduced
Review: If only the movie could have been as in-depth as the book, but alas, such are the restrictions of the silver screen. Excellent casting of Sean Connery as the confident Captain Marko Ramius, and also James Earl Jones as Admiral Greer (not what I had envisioned, but it was an excellent choice!)
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Adventure
Review: This movie will put your mind to work. I loved this movie for its great storyline, Interesting plot , and awesome action seens. The movie starts out with THE RED OCTOBER's launch. The submersible has a state of the art engine that makes it virtually silent to all other vessels. The chase is on when the Captain and crew make a very treacherous decision. The film is filled with intrigue and trickery. Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin are at their best. It also has great special effects and great musical scores that brings the film to life. I've seen this film with my father and close friend and they both bought it immediatly. The Cast is an Awesome one at that. James Earl Jones is extremely excellent and witty. Sean brings an intense and serious mood to the film. And last Alec brings a touch of comedy and drama to this magnificent film.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent...but not much reason to buy it on DVD
Review: "The Hunt for Red October" works wonderfully as a film, but Paramount really short-changed customers with this DVD.First, the film... "Red October" is a terrifically entertaining techno-thriller based on a novel by Tom Clancy, who is the king of the terrifically entertaining techno-thriller. Director John McTiernan wisely cuts some of the inevitable Clancy fat and right wing platitudes out of the plot; most notably, the 'international intrigue' aspect of the novel is pretty much reduced to a series of amusing exchanges between the Soviet ambassador and the American national security advisor (a very effective Richard Jordan). You probably know the plot by now: legendary Soviet captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) plans to defect to the U.S. with his new, radically advanced missile submarine, the Red October. Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) is the CIA analyst who figures out that Ramius is defecting and winds up in WAY over his head (but never out of his depth) to help Ramius out. McTiernan does a VERY nice job solving a problem inherent to this type of film: changing languages. The beginning of the film is largely set on the Russian sub, and the dialogue is all in Russian with English subtitles. As Ramius has a conversation in his quarters with the ship's political officer, who is quoting from an English-language book in Russian, McTiernan zooms in on the political officer's lips and holds the shot. At that point, the political officer begins speaking in English, and all the dialogue aboard Red October from that point on is also in English. Well done! The action sequences, of course, are well handled; the sets for the Russian and American subs were constructed on hydraulic struts so that McTiernan could realistically portray the ships moving in three dimensions through the water without having the actors do "Star Trek" style movements. Submarines are far more cramped than they look in this movie, but I suppose that realism had to bow to practicality in this case; it'd be awfully hard to get a camera dolly down the real corridor or into the command center of a real sub. Nice supporting performances complement the well-handled action sequences; in particular, Scott Glenn is fine as the cool-as-they-come American sub captain Bart Mancuso, and Sam Neill has a nice turn as Ramius's second-in-command, who dreams of moving to Montana after he defects to the U.S. It's easier to see how wrong Baldwin was for the role of Jack Ryan after Harrison Ford took over the role for the next two Clancy movies, but I guess Baldwin is serviceable, if a bit too overcome by boyish enthusiasm. And, of course, Connery is excellent as Ramius; who else besides Sean Connery could get away with playing a Russian with a Scottish accent? The film's only real weakness, frankly, is the special effects. Granted, depicting action sequences in murky water isn't an easy task, but a big-budget film like this one deserved better visuals. Overall, though, "Red October" rightly deserved the critical and commercial success it enjoyed during its release, and it's a good addition to your video collection. The bad news is that Paramount has done absolutely nothing to justify your spending money on this DVD. There are no special features to speak of, and the sound/picture quality isn't much better than you'd get on a tape. But I guess the good news is that a DVD won't wear out, and this is a film you'll watch a few times, so it's not a bad investment.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie - poor transfer
Review: I love this movie - it's fast-paced, well-acted, and the screenplay may be better than the book. Unfortunately, the transfer to DVD is so mediocre and grainy (especially when viewed on an HDTV) that it is barely better than my laserdisc copy. Still, if you're a cold war techno-thriller fan, buy it!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies ever!
Review: This is simply an awesome movie! This film was filled with action, suspense, good plot, everything a film needs. I'm glad to see that the other reveiwers gave it good ratings, except for the ones that whined about the bad transition to DVD. (By the way, the 2-3 second pause is not an error, the player is switching disc layers.) One of the very few novel-based movies that was not ruined when made a movie, but the book was still twenty times better. Its casting was perfect. Sean Connery (Goldfinger, The Rock, Entrapment), who I think is the best actor of all time, was excelant as Ramius. Alec Baldwin was very good as Jack Ryan, though maybe not as good as Harrison Ford in "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger". The Cast also includes James Earl Jones and Sam Neill. Depending on the mood I'm in, this is my favorite movie. I like movies filled with action and special effects, like The Rock and Con Air. I also like movies that make you think, like 12 Monkeys. The Hunt for Red October fits both categories (so does The Matrix, another one of my favorite movies). I bet some people who are reading this are saying, "Red October doesn't make you think". Well, it doesn't if you just sit around and wait for all the questions to be answered. That is why I don't recommend this movie to losers or idiots.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome action packed movie!
Review: The very best of Tom Clancy's books that was converted to a movie. It is full of action from the beginning to the end, and never gets to far from reality like most movies of this type. It is one of Sean Connery's best played parts, and Alec Baldwin did an exellent job playing Dr. Ryan. I recomend this movie to anyone who enjoys a thriller, or is just in the mood for a good action packed movie. I know it earned my five stars!
Rating:
Summary: A Submarine Classic
Review: 'Red October' did for modern submarine warfare what 'Das Boot' did for WWII. It took a concept that is inconceivable to most people (living in a boat underwater with people trying to blow you up) and brought it up close and personal. The resulting suspense and excitement for this type of film is always extremely entertaining and this film delivers nicely. Tom Clancy's thrilling novel converts well to the big screen. Clancy is a master of making improbable tales of international intrigue seem plausible. This story of a Soviet sub commander who is trying to defect to the U.S. adds a unique twist to the suspense normally associated with submarine films. John McTiernan, who is building an enormous reputation in the action/adventure genre did a fabulous job as director. This film focused less on the submarine and its crew than its cousin 'Das Boot', and more on the international intrigue angle. McTiernan is very effective in keeping up the pace and giving the viewer riveting suspense as smart torpedos chase subs through the murky deep. As always, Sean Connery was powerful as the defecting captain, determined not to allow this first strike weapon to start a nuclear holocaust. Connery gave his character both a conscience and a ruthless commitment, stopping at nothing to reach his goal. Alec Baldwin turns in one of his better performances as Jack Ryan. Unlike Harrison Ford who made Ryan into an action hero in other Tom Clancy adaptations, Baldwin seemed better cast as the CIA nerd who was thrust into a field situation without any real experience. In this way, I felt he was a better representation of the character as Clancy originally wrote him. This is a highly entertaining and engrossing film that will keep most action and suspense viewers on the edge of their seats. I rated it a 9/10.
Rating:
Summary: Red October?
Review: The Red October is a Russian Submarine. Sean Connery wants to defect (give the submarine to) the Americans (Alec Baldwin). This is a spectacular movie, and never gets dull. In case you're curious, professional movie reviewers gave this movie four out of four stars.
Rating:
Summary: From an Ex-Submariner
Review: Being an ex-bubblehead, it was nice to see a Submarine movie where the author did his homework. Very realistic with the exception of navigating underwater canyons at 26kts :) The DVD does not have a lot of extras but whatthehey, it can't take away from a great movie. Clamshell case, bare bones insert, DVD widescreen [the subtitles are under the movie, not on it]. English/French Dolby and 5.1 surround. I consider this a good purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Only the lack of a THX dvd keeps this from ranking 5 stars
Review: THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, the third film in John McTiernan's "holy trinity" of action films (following 1987's PREDATOR and 1988's DIE HARD) ranks as one of the finest action thrillers of modern times. What makes it rise miles above slop like the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced CRIMSON TIDE is the intelligent script. Viewers feel like they are immersed in this military underwater world, complete with submariner jargon that hasn't been "dumbed down" or "conveniently explained" for you. The story is tense, believable, and PLAUSIBLE, factors often missing from lesser knock-offs of this film. Alec Baldwin brings so much believability and humanity to the character of CIA analyst Jack Ryan that Harrison Ford's subsequent portrayals of Ryan, albeit in far inferior movie sequels, seem wooden and stiff. But that is mostly the fault of the scripts he had to work with. And Philip Noyce, who directed Ford in the 2 Clancy movies so far, just isn't the director McTiernan is. But what this DVD SORELY lacks is the THX treatment that the RED OCTOBER laser disc got. Why Paramount didn't insist on it is a mystery to me. Great, great movie, but it deserves the superior picture and sound that THX affords. Hate to say it, but the laser disc beats the DVD in this case. If you pay close attention to the RED OCTOBER movie trailer included on this DVD, though, you can see a shot of footage of some AWAC planes that didn't make it into the final film. That's the fun of movie trailers included on DVDs. You get to see what the trailer editors had to work with long before the final cut of the film was delivered to the distributors for release. (Another example: the trailer for BATMAN RETURNS featured a different take of a Michelle Pfeiffer line reading than the one that ended up in the film - a noticeably different one. But I digress...) Back to RED OCTOBER: Great film! Even a buddy of mine who is career military finds this film fascinating and believable! But you are not getting the best video transfer available by buying the DVD.
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