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)

EVENT HORIZON (1997)

"This place is a tomb."

2047.  The "Event Horizon" is an experimental spacecraft that disappeared seven years ago and has now reappeared way the fuck out by Neptune. A distress signal was sent from the ship.  The film opens aboard a rescue vessel that is headed towards the Event Horizon. Along the way the crew is briefed (by Sam Neill, the creator of the Event Horizon) about how the ship was able to create an artificial black hole that would allow it to travel through a wormhole to a destination far away in just a fraction of the time it would have taken using traditional travel.  When the rescue crew arrives at the now ice cold Event Horizon, they discover that some sinister shenanigans are afoot.

I love outer space films like this, just the thought of being placed in a terrifying situation in such a remote, isolated location is an exciting premise for a movie (just look at ALIEN and THE THING), but EVENT HORIZON couldn't seal the deal.  When I first saw EVENT HORIZON back in 1997 it freaked me out.  Watching it again now though, I see it as a good example of a horror film that was so close to being awesome, but failed and ended up being just barely above average. The build up is fine, but then in the final act, everything just falls apart.  Instead of suspense and unbridled terror, it's just fizzles out.

It's still worth watching, because it is entertaining.  In the end I was more frustrated by what didn't happen than by what did.  According to IMDb the "original cut" is 130 minutes long. I have never seen that version available anywhere. The blu-ray I own is only 95 minutes.  I'd enjoy seeing a miniseries version of the story on something like HBO.  Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne both give very good performances.

Director Paul W. S. Anderson went on to direct the blasphemous ALIEN VS. PREDATOR.

[Fun thought: If they ever release a fixed version of this film, they should use Front Line Assembly's "Synthetic Forms" as the main theme.]