[SPOILERS BELOW]
A slow-burn submarine thriller, whose strongest component is its suspense and claustrophobia. This is largely due to the excellent set design and miniature prop work that really makes you feel like you're in a submarine in the middle of the ocean. The tight hallways and rooms within the submarines are what give the film this sense of claustrophobia, and both the Russian and American subs are stylized both in terms of design and lighting i.e. the American USS Dallas sub has mainly blue lights and the Russian Red October sub has...well, red lights. Yeah, it's not overly subtle but its still a neat detail nonetheless. In terms of both the Russian and American sides, however, I liked the fact that neither the Americans nor the Russians are demonized, which I appreciated as we got to see both sides and see each's perspective...apart from maybe Skarsgård's character, who was just kinda weirdly positioned as maniacal and insane. The aforementioned miniature work is also fantastic - if they were to do the film with CGI or another "non-practical" method instead, it wouldn't look nearly as good today. It's because of the detail in the miniatures and their believability that I became more engrossed in what was happening in the story. The characters within the story are also good...well, the main ones at least - some were tired cliches and pretty meh like the cranky old general at the War Room table who wants to stop those "damn Reds!". But for the most part, each main character is solidly built and decently performed. Not the best acting I've seen in my life, but more than passable.
My only reservations about the film are some story beats, some of the other visual effects and the pacing. The rogue captain of the Red October, Sean Connery, has a scene with his second-in-command (played by Sam Neill) where he dies after getting shot by a KGB agent, with his final words being that he wishes he could have seen the state of Montana. This hearkens back to a previous scene where Sean Connery and Sam Neill are discussing what they're going to do once they defect to America, which, while watching the scene, almost instantly made me think, "Well, one of them is going to die..." and the whole reveal of the KGB agent being the cook that we saw earlier in the film is kinda lame, and doesn't really amount to much. They probably could have just had Sam Neill's character live, and cut out the secret KGB agent B-(or C-)plot entirely. After all, there's still the threat of the other Russian submarine attempting to destroy the Red October to prevent it from falling into American hands. In terms of the visual effects, most are good but the end scene where Ramius (Connery) and Jack Ryan (played by Alec Baldwin) are traveling on a boat was pretty obviously shot on some sort of blue-or-green screen. But it's a minor scene, so it's not that big of a deal. Finally, you might be put off by the pacing if you're expecting a more action-oriented film, which this really isn't as it's much more focused on building tension and dramatizing naval tactics and maneuvers - so bear that in mind.
Overall: 7/10, very high 6 or low-mid 7
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