| K-19: The Widowmaker |
| ~Even With Ford and Neeson, 'K-19' Sinks~ |
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| By Todd Karella August 8, 2002 |
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| drills and equipment repairs that take up most of the film. The movie has no exciting moments and just plods along with no new interesting visuals or any great dialogue. The two veteran actors, Ford and Neeson, do not contribute to the movie with any shows of acting prowess. Their Russian accents are barely noticeable and seem to come and go at will. The most compelling thing about the movie is when you think about the concept in today’s world. It’s scary to know how the Soviet Union mishandled nuclear energy with everything that they knew. |
| The crew of the K-19 Soviet submarine was sworn to secrecy after their ill-fated maiden voyage which cost 21 lives and almost turned into a nuclear disaster. Unfortunately, the cast and crew of the movie K-19: The Widowmaker took no such oath and brought one of the dullest maritime movies |
| in recent memory to the big screen. As a general rule I tend to stay away from movies based on a true story for just that reason. But with the recent group of successful |
| military movies U-571 and Black Hawk Down,--K-19 advertised itself as being another exciting movie about submarines and a nearly averted nuclear war. It may sound exciting, but as I’ve learned over the years trailers tend to be misleading. The story is about Capt. Mikhall Polenin (Liam Neeson), who sees his crew as a family and takes every precaution to ensure their safety. It’s 1961, and the Soviet Union, in the middle of an arms race with the United States, cares only about getting its nuclear submarine out to sea so the Americans will think it is still equal in military power. The government considers Polenin's behavior to be weak.. To make sure that the half-finished submarine leaves dry-dock on time and that the sea tests progress regardless of any safety issues, they bring in Capt. Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) to take command of the ship. With two captains on board and Vostrikov being extremely strict and running the crew through constant drills, it causes a lot of tension and split loyalties for the crew. Things are made worse as the new captain continues to push the submarine beyond the limits of safety and sanity. The entire movie you are waiting for some kind of confrontation between the two captains that never comes. |
| The most interesting part of the movie occurs towards the end when one of the on-board nuclear reactors breaks down and they have no way to cool the core temperature. Members of the crew end up volunteering to go into the reactor core and physically repair the damage. Armed with chemical suits instead of radiation suits and going in pairs, the men sacrifice their lives to save the lives of their fellow crewmembers. While the men are brave and heroic for willingly sacrificing their lives, it makes for an incredibly dull movie unless you are interested in watching submarine |
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