The Hunt for Red October (Special Collector's Edition)

Having already had Hunt for Red October on tape and DVD, it was totally necessary to get this Blu-Ray DVD!!! (Also have all of Clancy's books in hardcover, and would pay a King's Ransom for ALL of his movies to be FAITHFULLY made into block-buster movies and put onto Blu-Ray!) We loved the increased definition--but mostly the SOUND! So good was the sound, that we got a soundtrack CD--also from Amazon! This story follows Clancy's actual writing more closely than the other films based on his novels. (Particularly "bad" is the latest, Sum of all Fears! Absolutely PC-ized version of a story!) Very interesting, and a great film that the entire family can view, but, with three scenes of "dispatching a character via firearm," maybe the very youngest should be shielded from watching. Absolutely NO "gender interaction," so no explanation of "birds and bees" is necessary, and finally, ALL the roles are played by superb character actors. I prefer Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan (more age and "gravitas") but Baldwin does a credible job here. A movie for the entire family to delight and be thrilled with! And Blu-ray only makes it better, especially in surround sound!

Some punk junkie named Sick Boy in the the Danny Boyle cult classic TRAINSPOTTING espouses a "theory" of his in which he uses the career of Sean Connery to illustrate. Basically he believes that for everybody in life at one point you got it, then you don't. There's a period in your life, probably when you were younger, when you could have had *it* but then you loose *it* and are past your prime. Well, the other character listening to this was right to feel unimpressed by this cocky punk's disrespectful and plainly dumb understanding of human accomplishment. Sean Connery was the original and coolest James Bond but it was not all downhill from those glory days. Connery's performance THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER disproves Sick Boy's theory (along with a few others in his career btw). Alec Baldwin is also good, his take on CIA agent Jack Ryan much more compelling than Harrison Ford's or Ben Affleck's. Ford looks old. Affleck looks like Affleck. There are a few famous faces that grace the screen in this one: Darth Vader's voice, a Senator and 2008 presidential candidate. The ocean and ships sort of steal the show in these things though when you think about it. The ocean looks great on the silver screen, or your TV for that matter. The story is the fantastical stuff of nerdy military loving, rightwing Cold War warriors' sweaty dreams. I think Tom Clancy books are a dime a dozen but they got at least one decent escapist flick out of 'em. This is the most cinematic and well made Jack Ryan film.

EXCELLENT MOVIE A MUST FOR SEAN CONNERY FANS....I RECEIVED THE DVD PROMPTLY AND WILL CERTAINLY PURCHASE AGAIN...THIS IS A MOVIE I HAD SEEN MANY TIMES AND HAD BEEN SEARCHING FOR IT FOR A LONG TIME.

The Hunt for Red October (Special Collector's Edition)

Paramount should be ashamed of themselves. The picture quality is atrocious. DO NOT BUY THIS MOVIE IN DVD FORMAT! Hopefully they haven't screwed up the Blue Ray edition.
Unfortunately, I gave my old Laser disk player and movies away months ago. I have been replacing my favorites with DVDs and Red October was my latest purchase. I will probably throw it in the trash.
I am, Peter Harrison..... A disgruntled customer and pissed at Paramount for allowing this to happen.

Of course its a classic film. Worst transfer to a "high-definition" format that I've seen so far. Just by the DVD, you won't miss the extra static contained in the higher definition version here.