I first saw this film with my dad and my next door neighbor Ben when I was 14. I remember being quite taken with it. My dad was always quite picky about movies, and while I watched the movie, I wondered if he was liking it. I leaned over to him and whispered the question in his ear, and he, in turn, gave me a thumbs up. It had passed "the dad test". Unfortunately, I remember being somewhat in the dark during the film, because I had no idea what it meant to "defect". Fortunately, the film's overall tone and story was easy enough to follow that I still was able to enjoy it, despite my ignorance of basic Cold War vocabulary. Weeks later, dad went to the trouble of driving me and my cousin Jeremy all the way to the Cinemadome in Orange to see it again on the big screen. At that age, that meant a lot to me.
Watching this movie again recently, I was surprised how well it has aged. This movie is a balancing act almost from the first moment. It deals with somewhat serious subject matter, but has a relentless sense of humor. It runs the risk of being overly drenched in testosterone, but manages to have genuine moments of sensitivity and gentleness. It operates almost entirely within the confined spaces of submarines, yet it manages to feel like a big epic sea battle. The movie is set in 1984, years before the Berlin Wall fell. The movie follows the mysterious intentions of a Soviet submarine captain named Marko Ramius (played with enigmatic precision by Sean Connery). He has taken out the maiden voyage of a cutting edge new submarine, and he suddenly kills the ships political officer and starts heading west. The captain's true intentions are known to the audience, but nearly everyone else in the movie is left guessing. However, CIA agent Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin, who suddenly looked awfully young watching this again) has a theory. While everyone else in the room at the security briefing sees a nuclear threat, Ryan hypothesizes that Ramius is attempting to defect to the west. Both Soviet and American subs begin hunting Ramius, and the climax of the movie is one of the more satisfying pieces of drama one can find on film.
Another way in which this film is a great balancing act is how well the bravado of its dialogue somehow works. In lesser films, lines such as "Get your butt over here", "This one's gonna be close" and "And I.....was never here." would seem like complete cliche. They all work here quite well, because the movie never takes itself too seriously. It combines serious content with an overall sense of humor about some of the situations in which the characters find themselves. The other strength of the movie is the cast. The movie has countless wonderful character actors (James Earl Jones, Scott Glenn, Stellan Skarsgaard, to name a few), and the movie is able to juggle several sub plots very well. The movies ability to weave all of its elements together is noteworthy. The story moves along very well, and the no loose ends are left in the end.
One of the other things that keeps the movie from being dated is the film's music. The music has a more timeless quality, and the military outfitting of most of the film's characters also helps keep the characters from looking dated. Even though the film is set during the Cold War, there are enough timeless elements here that the story holds up very well. One of the most remarkable scenes is the one which finds Ramius and his first officer (Sam Neill, another fine character actor) discussing their reasons for wanting to escape to the West. The first officer's dreams are somewhat basic--he wants to live in Montana, own an RV and drive from state to state without worrying about papers to travel between states. Ramius at first balks at his first officer's question as to his motives, but when pressed, he shows himself a bit. His answer is remarkable existential, and it gives us a window into this man who has been pressed into a career for the good of the collective. He yearns for simplicity, and he feels that a life change like this may hold a certain amount of peace.
I have seen this movie enough times that it seemed comfortable to watch it again. Its characters are always engaging, and the action is always riveting. Next time you want to watch a good thriller, revisit this one again-you won't be disappointed.
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