THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)

"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."

I've never read a Tom Clancy novel (although I've spent thousands of hours playing Tom Clancy video games), but if the novel "The Hunt for Red October" is better than the movie then I might have to because this movie was a blast!

Opening scene, a highly respected Russian submarine commander (Sean Connery) is suppose to take the Soviet Navy's new revolutionary stealth nuclear submarine out on a test run, but instead he's making a break for the U.S.  Has he gone mad?  Is he gonna start WWIII?  Is he trying to defect?  Maybe he's lost or there's a wookalar loose on board the sub.  Nobody knows!  So, now not only is the entire Soviet Navy after him, including submarine captain Stellan Skarsgard, but also the entire American military including CIA analyst Alec Baldwin.  It's all very exciting.  Explosions, sonar, helicopters, jets, torpedoes, unobtrusive computer effects, fast pace that makes the 134-minute runtime absolutely fly by, strong cast, exciting story.

If you're into military thrillers, then you should check it out.  Recommended.

Part 2 - Patriot Games (1992)
Part 3 - Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Reboot 1 - The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Reboot 2 - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

THE EDGE (1997)

Anthony Hopkins is a billionaire who surrounds himself with a bunch of cackling, selfish douchebags.  While on a vacation, with these fools, at a fancy lodge deep in the frozen depths of Alaska, he and Alec Baldwin end up in a plane crash.  Stranded a million miles from nowhere with no food and nothing but the clothes on their backs, things look pretty bad.  But they get even worse when they discover that a huge man-eating bear is stalking them!  Yikes!  And it gets even worse that that when Anthony Hopkins discovers...well, I'm not going to tell you.  You're gonna have to watch it for yourself.

 

THE EDGE isn't any kind of life changing film, but as far as rainy afternoon time-wasters or late night channel flippers go, it's a blast!  Nice pace, dated effects, awesome bear, good story, violence, beautiful scenery, good acting, solid direction.  I've seen it a few times now and always enjoy it.  Recommended for sure.