Initially, I thought that this film was nothing but another action thriller generated by Hollywood to earn the big bucks off of a topical project (the Cold War). But once I got further into the plot, I began to have a change of mind. There is no doubt that some serious effort was put into the production of this film. A sense of realism was established early on in the film, essentially laying the groundwork for the tone and plot. Serious line deliveries by Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, and the rest of the cast contributed to this sense of realism by setting a tone of dread and suspense. I think that Sean Connery did the best in his role because of the daunting task that was presented before him. While he has had experience with serious roles in …show more content…
The Americans viewed Ramius as a captain hell-bent on starting a war and the Russians saw him as a lunatic who had no idea what he was doing. As the story goes on, everyone- including us, the viewer -is shown the real Ramius and his true intentions. This is theme of unknown intentions drives the plot into a direction that escalates until the final battle where the Americans are helping Ramius defect and the Russians are out for his blood. A significant piece of symbolism also ties into the theme of unknown intentions. Early into the film, Ryan promises his daughter that he will bring her back a teddy bear while he is out of town on business. This small, seemingly insignificant detail is not revisited until the end of the film where Ryan is seen on a plane flying back home with a teddy bear buckled in beside him. To me, I saw the teddy bear as a representation of Russia and Marko Ramius. I think that the idea of different perspectives lead to people thinking of Ramius as this menacing bear while in actuality, he is nothing but an innocent teddy bear with good intentions. This was a great way for the film to tie everything together and create a heart-warming resolution for a thrilling