Movie of the Week - The Hunt for Red October

This week’s movie is The Hunt for Red October (1990).

The film is the first of four in the Jack Ryan series (based on the Tom Clancy novels), and is a cold war action thriller about the USSR’s top submarine captain, in command of their newest and best sub, who defies orders and sets a course for the USA. Jack Ryan and other CIA analysts try to ascertain whether he is trying to defect or start a war. The film is the last great film from John McTiernan (and the last of the McTiernan quality action trilogy – Predator, Die Hard and this). The film has strong leads in Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin (who is a good Jack Ryan and played it much differently than what most consider the quintessential Jack Ryan in Harrison Ford’s portrayal), while also having a great group of supporting and bit actors – Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Rick Ducommun, Tim Curry, Stellan Skarsgard, and Jeffrey Jones. McTiernan also brought his Die Hard D.P., Jan de Bont, back to shoot the film, while Basil Poledouris (who scored many classic 80s film like RoboCop and Red Dawn) was hired to put music to the film. What makes it great are the performances, the mix of action, tension and spy coolness, and style that McTiernan brought to his early films – humor, action, suspense all melded together to make an entertaining end product. Check out the trailer.

The Hunt for Red October [Blu-ray/DVD]

Movie of the Week - Die Hard

This week’s movie is Die Hard (1988).

The film is about NYC cop John McClane who is in LA to visit his ex-wife when the high-rise office building in which she works is overrun by terrorists. Ill-equipped and unprepared, McClane must survive, stop the terrorists and save his ex-wife using guerrilla tactics. The film is directed by 80s/90s action-director John McTiernan (Predator and The Hunt for Red October), and is the middle film of his best work trilogy (between the two list above). The film stars Bruce Willis as McClane and Alan Rickman as terrorist leader Hans Gruber. What makes the film great is the combination of Willis’ charisma, Rickman’s perfect villain and McTiernan’s great action set ups. There are also a number of smaller roles that work quite well in adding comedy to the film (notably William Atherton). Die Hard is probably the best action film of its decade and one that still holds up and surpasses almost every one of its genre made today, as McTiernan is masterfully able to blend drama and comedy into a flat out action for the sake of action film. Check out the trailer.

Die Hard (Blu-ray/DVD)