Saw Crimson Tide [Denzel Washington] and The Hunt for the Red October [Sean Connery]. The sheer dynamics, strategy and implications of submarine warfare are stunning. I’m a huge fan. Those words, “conn… sonar!!” are usually the first indicators (a submarine is otherwise blind) of a presence near them – near enough to be a threat, a threat until determined otherwise. They are pregnant with warning, with expectation, excitement and… dread. The price of failure in this type of warfare is death – by drowning, asphyxiation or by being crushed by the weight of the towering ocean above them.
Crimson Tide was fabulous. Damn. Two mutinies by armed parties on a nuclear powered strategic platform that is at defcon 3. Real edge of the seat movie.
And what can I say about Krazny Oktober? READ the novel first. I’ve suffered the same disappointment with Clear and Present Danger and The Bourne Identity (and The Bourne Supremacy). The films don’t stay faithful to the novels. If you watch the films first, you will tend to dismiss the novels. Its better the other way around – at least the action is damn well good. Ah yes! The story is about a Russian high-tech missile sub whose captain is defecting to the US. The whole damn Russian fleet is after him and the whole damn US fleet is trying to save him. The novel is better. I recommend it.
Rohit Bhute 