Jack Ryan: The Hunt for Red October.

Shadow Recruit featured on last year's blog (I think). After watching it I realised that there were other Jack Ryan films before Chris Pine took over and so I acquired three of them and promised to watch and review them. Without further ado I present: The Hunt for Red October.

A cast full of stars including Sean Connery, James Earl Jones, Joss Ackland and Alec Baldwin were needed to make this film the simple yet at the same time complicated plot that it is. So where to start and who to start with? I think that I have to make the obvious comment about Sean Connery playing a Russian/Ukrainian officer with his very heavy Scottish accent. Even when speaking Russian the accent was coming out so heavy that it was hard to work out if anyone would actually be able to understand him properly. It is hard to lose an accent but actors should be able to put on a different accent. Russian accents are hard to hold but at least put on something eastern european instead of sticking with obvious Scottish. Take nothing away from his performance though- apart from the accent it was sublime in every way.

James Earl Jones had one of those roles that just allowed him to fit in perfectly. Not a lead as such but a character that had some nice scenes throughout the film. His character and the character of Joss Ackland kept the film running smoothly. They joined the plots together and were there as a change of scene to enlighten the audience with updates.

This film had the ultimate James Bond spy feel to it. Flicking between offices and the action was reminiscent of some of the James Bond movies such as 'From Russia With Love' or 'The Man With The Golden Gun' where you have your opening scene and then you go back to London for the plot to develop nicely. The filming of underwater submarines was lovely. Jack Ryan laid down the foundations for The Bourne series. I have another two to watch before I can say that I have followed the Jack Ryan series completely.

Next up is Night Crawler.