• It doesn’t have the haunting claustrophobia of Das Boot but it’s a superb thriller
  • Strong Tom Clancy source material – the plot actually rides pretty closely to Dr. Strangelove without the comedy of course
  • It’s better than the weak metacritic score (58 at the time I’m writing)- but you could see it as a disappointment with McTiernan (coming off Predator and Die Hard) and that cast
  • The cast is outstanding. Much is made of Connery with that accent playing a Soviet naval commander but he’s very good here- frosty, melancholic— and the supporting players are strong and abundant- Baldin, James Earl Jones is great, Richard Jordan is very good, Stellan Skarsgård in an early small role—I think Scott Glenn comes off very well—perhaps the best in the cast
  • Great canted angle shot of Stellan Skarsgård showing the stress and claustrophobia
  • Sam Neil’s sweet “do you think they’ll let me live in Montana?” monologue.
  • The shot of Baldwin crawling in the ship is shot very much like McTiernan shooting Willis in Die Hard
  • Baldwin vs. Harrison Ford here as Jack Ryan—Baldwin plays him more as an everyman- Ford is more of a super hero—hard to imagine Ford’s Ryan turning green from smoking
  • Ends on a high note- quoting Christopher Columbus and Baldwin saying “Welcome to the New World”
  • Recommend- not in the top 10 of 1990