K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writers (WGA):

Louis Nowra (story)
Christopher Kyle (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 July 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Thriller

Tagline:

Fate has found its hero.

Plot:

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear | Submarine | Nuclear Submarine | Nuclear Reactor | Russia

Awards:

2 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Sam Spruell	...	Dmitri
Peter Stebbings	...	Kuryshev
Christian Camargo	...	Pavel
Roman Podhora	...	Lapinsh
Sam Redford	...	Vasily
Steve Nicolson	...	Demichev
Liam Neeson	...	Capt. Mikhail Polenin
Ravil Isyanov	...	Suslov
Tim Woodward	...	Partonov
Lex Shrapnel	...	Kornilov
Shaun Benson	...	Leonid
Kristen Holden-Ried	...	Anton
Dmitry Chepovetsky	...	Sergei
Christopher Redman	...	Kiklidze
Tygh Runyan	...	Maxim

Also Known As:

K*19: The Widowmaker (USA) (poster title)
K-19 - Showdown in der Tiefe (Germany)
K-19: Terreur sous la mer (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for disturbing images.

Runtime:

138 min | Spain:140 min

Country:

UK | Germany | USA | Canada

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | Portugal:M/12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38941) | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Gimli, Manitoba, Canada

Company:

First Light Production

Trivia:

Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson are both veterans of the Star Wars films. Ford played Han Solo in the original trilogy, while Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The sound the camera makes when the group shot of the crew is taken on the ice is that of a fixed shutter, but the camera being used (either a Leica or a Russian copy) would have had a focal-plane shutter.

Quotes:

Vadim Radtchenko: Hiroshima. 1.4 megatons.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

Soundtrack:

Moonlight Sonata

Definitely worth a look.

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.