For Christmas I was given the Jack Ryan  movie boxset, and with the third season of the show starring John Krasinski now available on Amazon Prime, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit the franchise. Despite having been constantly rebooted and recast, the series has consistently produced tense and exciting action/thrillers...  mostly. Four out of five ain't bad! The Hunt for Red October The first of the Jack Ryan  movies has all the intrigue of a spy thriller, and all of the tension of a submarine movie, making it the perfect movie to kick off the franchise. Set at a time when Cold War hostilities were on the rise, we are drawn into this high-stakes battle of wills between the Soviet Union, the United States, and a lone submarine captain. Excellent performances and some clever cinematography give the movie a real sense of claustrophobia, allowing director John McTiernan to slowly ratchet up the tension, as Ryan struggles to make contact with the Red October and avoid an all o