K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

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

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writers:

Louis Nowra (story), Christopher Kyle (screenplay)

Stars:

Sam Spruell, Peter Stebbings, Christian Camargo

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Kris Holden-Ried	...	Anton (as Kristen Holden-Ried)
Dmitry Chepovetsky	...	Sergei
Christopher Redman	...	Kiklidze
Tygh Runyan	...	Maxim

Storyline

The story of USSR's first nuclear ballistic submarine, which suffered a malfunction in its nuclear reactor on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic in 1961. The submarine's crew, led by the unyielding Captain Alexi Vostrikov, races against time to prevent a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster which threatens not only the lives of his crew, but has the potential to ignite a world war between the super powers.

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Plot Keywords:

submarine | russia | nuclear submarine | nuclear reactor | cold war | 

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Taglines:

Fate has found its hero.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Filmax [es] OFFICIAL SITE

Country:

UK Germany USA Canada

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

19 July 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

K*19: The Widowmaker

Filming Locations:

Gimli, Manitoba, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$361,731 (Japan) (20 December 2002)

Gross:

$4,112,806 (Japan) (17 January 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

First Light Production, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 2. Produktions KG, Intermedia Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Juliette-class sub used for the filming had to be restored back to "sea-worthy" condition and then modified to make it resemble the original K-19, which was a Hotel-class sub. The modifications included a longer sail and lengthening of the sub by more than 100 feet.

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Goofs

Reactor Officer Vadim Radtchenko says that the accident may trigger a "Thermonuclear" explosion. This is impossible because Thermonuclear explosion is a nuclear Fusion (fusing Hydrogen atoms into Helium and thus releasing energy) and obviously the nuclear reactor in the submarine is based on nuclear Fission (breaking Uranium atoms thus releasing energy).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Capt. Mikhail Polenin: All compartments: report readiness!

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Connections

Referenced in Infernal Affairs (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Kalinka"
Written by Igor Tuhmanov
Courtesy of Associated Production Music LLC

User Reviews

Interesting angle in familiar theme

Forget about the accents that the actors use in this film. They don't convince anyone that they're Russian. But the story of a nuclear submarine that suffers a leak in the cooling system is fairly interesting. The sacrifices that these men had to do is pretty riveting and some of the decisions made here are ones that a normal person could not even consider! Harrison Ford seems to be having a good time playing a different type of character for a change. And Liam Neeson is actually not to bad as the captain that Ford replaces.Watching the men volunteer to try and fix the leak while exposing themselves to radiation is pretty horrific stuff and its these scenes that make the film worth while.