MovieChat Forums > The Hunt for Red October (1990) Discussion > If they had put in the effort to speak t...

If they had put in the effort to speak their lines in Russian, I'd rate


9/10 or 10/10
However, hearing a mix of different British accents speaking English on a Russian submarine took me out of the film; apart from that though the film sucked me in, and it's not often a movie can do that for me, so I still give it an 8/10

reply

It didn't bother me. I've grown up with Russians, Germans, Frenchmen, ... all speaking English in the movies. Notably WW2 movies :)

I'd rather have an actor speak his mother language (mostly English in American or British movies) and pretend it's German for instance, than have the actor speak German and he can't do it or have a horrible accent.

But maybe that's because I'm not from the USA or UK, or any other country where English is the main language. Maybe if you're an American, it's different?

reply

Red October is a John McTiernan movie and I really like his movies. McTiernan recognizes most Americans don't like to read movies. You can think of that as lazy if you want, it won't hurt my feelings. I admit I'm lazy that way. 

Like my friend, Kojiro (can I call you Kojiro? Mr. Vance maybe?) said in his reply, he'd rather pretend someone is speaking their native language and hearing it in English rather than have someone mangle the language he or she is supposed to be speaking. I agree with this as it would probably take me out of the movie more than the way it was presented in this movie.

McTiernan often does interesting things with language in his movies. As we see in Red October where Putin is speaking in Russian until the closeup on his mouth pulls back and he's speaking English. He did something similar in the 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas.

Speaking of, it also doesn't bother me to see people playing fake nationalities. In Star Trek, we have a British actor playing a French captain and a Latin actor playing a Sikh from Northern India (although he was genetically enhanced). In Highlander we have a French actor playing a Scotsman and a Scotsman (the same one in this movie BTW) playing an Egyptian/Spaniard. Just like with Banderas, a Latin actor playing an Arab.



I can only conclude I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.

reply

Kojiro will do fine.

I have grown up with watching movies with subtitles. That's how I learned (basic) English. I understand English, can read it, but talking and writing sometimes is a bit hard.


But I can understand that reading subtitles can pull you out of the movie.

I have been watching movies since I could read, so i think my eyes have adapted to reading subtitles fast :)

I would rather read subtitles, with the actors original voice, than see a movie that has been dubbed by an unknown voice actor.

reply

But I can understand that reading subtitles can pull you out of the movie.

I have been watching movies since I could read, so i think my eyes have adapted to reading subtitles fast :)

I would rather read subtitles, with the actors original voice, than see a movie that has been dubbed by an unknown voice actor.


If you are talking about a foreign film in it's original language I'd agree. The voice adds a lot of weight to the character. So a Japanese film where the characters speak Japanese is better than dubbing it when the voice never sounds natural. Same with German, French, and a bunch of other languages when they were shot in the actors' native language.

"Red October" was an American film with an international cast that mostly didn't speak Russian. Trying to shoot half of the film in Russian would have meant that some of the pivotal scenes would have been actors trying to phonetically recite lines that they did not understand, much less know how to emote saying.

reply

"Red October" was an American film with an international cast that mostly didn't speak Russian. Trying to shoot half of the film in Russian would have meant that some of the pivotal scenes would have been actors trying to phonetically recite lines that they did not understand, much less know how to emote saying.


Good point.

Another thing you notice is that the original scenes with Russian characters are all in Russian. The switch to English is done in one pivotal scene. From then on wards, the movie switches to English-only, with British accents. Even battle station orders are given in English, which doesn't make sense in a real world scenario. When the Americans and Russians meet face to face, we see all the Russians conversing in Russian. That's when we realize that they were speaking in Russian all the time.

I was impressed by this kind of cinematic license where there is a noticeable transition from perfect Russian to perfect English and back.

I would have hated if the Russian characters spoke in English(with a heavy Russian accent) even when there was no English speaking character in the room. That would look ridiculous.
Since we were the English speaking flies on the wall, we heard every dialogue in English until the final scene.


reply

The long and short of it is, you don't mess with Connery's voice. If you have him speak Russian, you lose a HUGE part of what makes him a "presence on the screen."

And, sub-titles suck. It takes away from what a character is trying to stress when they talk. You end up looking at the sub-titles instead of the person's face.

reply

It wouldn't have been a hit with everyone speaking Russian. Making money trumps accuracy

reply

Where were you 25 years ago Gene Siskel?

All joking aside, subtitles ruin action-packed movies. The russian to english transition in language during the subs transition from inport to sea, I thought was brilliant. They are fully acknowledging what they are doing and through logic we should all be able to understand why.

The movie Yamato was so poorly subtitled you seriously cannot grasp the movie fully unless you speak Japanese. In the case of THFRO when you have 2 different languages involved its even worse. Should we subtitle the American roles in russian roles can be understood by Russians?

You're taking a dump and they call GQ do you pinch it off or finish your business?

reply