K-19: The Widowmaker

I am one of those people who rolls their eyes at war and submarine films. For some reason, I find the claustrophobic atmosphere irritating and often bore of them in any case.

But this was gripping. Most of the drama actually takes place on the submarine rather than annoyingly cutting between onboard the submarine and the outside world the whole way through the film.

The acting was surprisingly good. In fact, exceptional, even though anyone could point flaws in the Russian accents. The drama was intense and overall, the film was gripping and easy to follow. The story unfolded, avoiding the temptation to overplay irrelevant aspects of the story. It's unfortunate that it was a box office bomb, but I think a great deal of that had to do with some unnecessary "show off" special effects, when the film ultimately hit its heights and greatness in the last 45 minutes, where a basic set and some good lighting is all that was needed.

If I had one complaint, it would be that the early stages could have been shortened because the film makers seemed hell-bent on trying to build a sense of intense camaraderie within the ship's crew, but somehow the dialogue and early events didn't quite do it correctly. Or perhaps it wasn't so necessary to harp on about so much. Nonetheless, it was a great watch and I was pleasantly surprised, even if you don't like movies of this genre.

This was a pretty solid supposed true story of a Russian submarine and its captains during the early 1960s. It's memorable, story-wise, for the radiation victims among the crew members. There are some really dramatic scenes involving that horrific event. Otherwise, it's a story of the sub's problems and the conflict between two captains.

The story starts slowly so you have to stick with it as it gets better and better as it goes on and rewarding enough to make you glad you hung in there for the whole 137 minutes.

Profanity is minor and the Russian accents are handled well by the lead actors, led by Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson and Peter Sarsgaard.

It's not a great film, but it's good and interesting enough to recommend a rental, but not something I'd watch numerous times. Those radiation scenes would be a little too grim to watch numerous times.

There is a scene early on in this film that pretty much sums up the risk that the crew of the new submarine of record will be taking. The officers are sitting around enjoying some vodka and one of them brings up the cosmonaut hero Yuri Gagarin. He offers the rumor that Gagarin was not in fact the first man sent into space. He was simply the first guy who made it back alive. And the crew of this brand new nuclear sub will face similar danger as their hastily prepared vessel will be pushed to the limit in order to impress both the politburo, and make the Americans take note of its existence. The boat has not even left the dock before it has claimed a handful of lives, most notably the ship's doctor who is hit by a truck just before departure. The top nuclear engineer on board is also hastily replaced when he is discovered drunk on duty. And of course, the champagne bottle doesn't break during the dedication ceremony on the first hit. This is a uniformly bad omen in anyone's navy! K-19 stars two wonderful actors in Harrison Ford, and Liam Neeson. Neeson plays the boat's original captain who strongly objects to how hastily the new vessel was thrown together. Ford, who has higher political connections is put in charge of the K-19 with Neeson being demoted to executive officer. Both men are stubborn, be generally respectful to one another. Trouble is, as the film later points out, a ship can only have ONE captain. One man that the crew looks to and respects. Two such men only create tension. Once the boat leaves port, things generally go pretty well. Despite a leak or two, the boat initially holds together. Ford orders a very deep descent, and of course we are treated to one of those scenes which every submarine movie has where the entire crew looks on nervously as the boat may or may not implode under pressure. Anyway, it holds up. The K-19 then breaks through a patch of ice and has a successful test firing of a missile. Everything looks like it is going great. The crew even stops to pose for a happy picture atop the ice after a game of soccer. Of course, things begin to fall apart from there on.

First off, the nuclear reactor pretty much goes kaput. Radiation levels rise rapidly, and for a while it looks like the whole sub might explode. Making things even more drastic is the presence of an American destroyer ship that would theoretically be taken out if the sub went nuclear. Tensions between the two nations were never really much higher than they were back then, so this may have been a real possibility. Once things start going badly, the tensions between Ford and Neeson begin to magnify. A mutiny is even attempted by those loyal to Neeson. Worst of all, the attempt to fix the reactor takes the lives of a handful of the crew in a particularly gruesome fashion. The film becomes more tense as things keep getting more and more dangerous for all involved. The conclusion is somewhat logical, but it might seem a little contrived. The entire movie is loosely based on real events, but the film has too many clichés for it to really be taken too seriously. Since there is no outright warfare going on here, the script has to pretty much recycle just about every tense moment from every other submarine movie not actually involving live combat.

The acting is good, but Harrison Ford is a bit tough to swallow as a Russian. His accent needs a little work, but other than that his performance was as good as he could have done for such a part. Neeson is terrific as usual. Peter Sarsgaard also shows great promise in this early effort of his. Hats off to director Kathryn Bigelow for using the claustrophobic environment of the submarine to her advantage. It must have been a difficult shoot, but she makes it work as well as you could hope. The film lost a small fortune at the box office for whatever reason. Maybe the absence of an American lead character was too much to overcome. Anyway, it is a shame that more people have yet to see this very good film. 7 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

Forget the critics, forget about the whiney Russian sailors: this film is worth watching. This just goes to show how idiotic the general viewing public has become. Critics have become nothing but a bunch of "good review" whores who work for commission and free gifts. It just goes to show idiotic they are, embracing schlock like Spider-man but putting down audacity like this film. For shame. With a good cast, excellent tension and Harrison Ford, they still want more action and silly exposition.

Maybe it is the subject matter, or maybe it's the fact Harrison Ford isn't killing anyone and trying to act sexy, but I cannot understand why anyone would put this film down. I don't think this film is detrimental to the reputations to the Russian sailors, who were portrayed with gusto and bravado not exhibited in most submarine films. Also, the claustrophobic nature of the film must have been difficult to film, considering the close quarters the characters had to work with. Overall, the film probably could have used some fine tuning, but the way it is, it is still quite a film to watch. 7.2/10

I rented this DVD for a little diversion, in spite of the bad buzz and the word "flop" attached. I thought it was a very good movie, very suspenseful and interesting. I don't nitpick about things like accents with films, just try to enjoy them. I agree with the majority of posters here, it is well worth your time.