Review of OUTLAND

OUTLAND

1981

The titanium mine on Io, one of Jupiter's moons, is a harsh and difficult place. Federal Marshal WILLIAM O'NEIL (Sean Connery) has just been assigned to that hellhole because he has a big mouth and speaks what his superiors want unsaid. The manager of the mine, MARK SHEPHARD, welcomes O'Neal with a speech in which he brags that his miners work hard and production is high, so they can also play hard.

There is a series of strange accidents. One man hallucinates spiders on his space suit, rips it open, and his insides explode in the vacuum.  Another man attacks one of the camp's prostitutes and threatens to kill her. Security forces kill him instead. O'Neil is suspicious. He consults with the camp's doctor. MARIAN LAZARUS, an acerbic wretch who never ever shows any emotion, sentimentality or caring. Usually. She agrees to help him, searches the medical records, and discovers that dozens of similar violent deaths have occurred in the past few years. Furthermore, all of the bodies were shipped off from Io without autopsies.

Unfortunately, CAROL O'NEIL, William's wife, has gotten the courage to send him a video message saying she was leaving Io to take their son, PAUL to Earth where he can live a normal life. She begs O'Neil to join her, but he has to finish his work in the mining colony.

O'Neil goes to one of the corpses still on Io, sticks a needle in its neck to extract blood, and finds a dangerous stimulant. After more digging, he finds a whole cache of the stimulant. This is what causes the high production of the mine and also the deaths. Shepard, the manager, must be responsible. O'Neil tells him he's uncovered the secret and intends to bring Shepard down. Shepard tells O'Neil he's a dead man, and arranges for assassins to come to Io to murder O'Neil. O'Neil asks the miners if anyone will help him, but they are afraid.

Oy vay.

This should be a wonderful workout film. It has an exotic setting, emotional complications, violent fights, sometimes to the death, mystery, betrayal, likeable characters, etc, etc. But, for me at least, there was no tension. Sean Connery does die in some of his films, but I never got the feeling he could in this one. Too many factors--like people about to kill themselves, Carols announcement that she's leaving, the betrayal and, of course, O'Neil's eventual victory--are all predictable. It will get your pulse up to a jog, so I'll give it +++, but I had hoped for better.

Review of HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

MARKO RAMIUS (Sean Connery) is the captain of a nuclear armed Soviet submarine, RED OCTOBER, with innovative stealth technology called a caterpillar drive.  Marko receives orders from a Soviet operative, IVAN PUTIN, to rendezvous with a colleague and former student, TUPOLEV, for maneuvers. However, Marko has other plans. He kills the Soviet operative and substitutes forged orders taking him to Los Angeles. Marko also takes Putin's key to the nuclear weapons.  With his key and Putin's key, he can now launch nuclear weapons by himself, a major breach of security. To make matters more interesting, Marko has sent a message to his superior about this plan to hijack the sub. Now, the entire Soviet navy is chasing him and trying to sink the Red October.

While in the Atlantic, Marko engages the stealth mode. The U.S. submarine DALLAS is nearby, sees the apparent disappearance of the Red October, and notifies Washington. The CIA's first thought is that Marko wants to launch a first strike on the USA.  However, analyst JACK RYAN, a regular in Clancy novels, thinks of an alternate possibility; maybe MARKO wants to defect.

JONES, a sailor on the Dallas, figures out how to track the Red October even with the stealth drive engaged, so the US sub ends up following the Russian sub. Ryan is transported on a dangerous helicopter trip to the Dallas to try to guess whether Marko's intention is attack or defection. Meanwhile, the Red October's stealth drive fails; sailors fix it, but the failure was due to sabotage and the culprit is unknown.

Is Ryan right that Marco wants only to defect, or is Los Angeles really in danger?  How and why is a saboteur on the sub, and will he destroy the Red October?  Will the Russian navy destroy its own submarine?

These are interesting questions, but the main question--will Marko provoke a nuclear war between the USA and the USSR al la Dr. Strangelove--is not in issue. The American navy shows no doubt that they can intercept and destroy the Red October before it does damage. The only big question is whether they should try to spare Marko--and acquire the innovative sub and its new technology in the bargain.

 The saboteur is never explained. Worse, Marko tells his boss what he plans and nearly wrecks the sub himself by overloading the subs engines to save a few minutes.  Still, Sean Connery does a superb job in the portrayal. While the film itself has a lot of faults, boredom isn't one of them. It captures your interest throughout.  I give it +++++ - it will get your pulse up to a sprint.