missybluesblog

K-19: The Widowmaker

Posted by

,   Aug 10, 2002

The year is 1961, a year believed by historians to be the most dangerous of all because the United States and Soviet Union?s Cold War relations are at an all time low. Mother Russia has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world twice over whereas the United States has five times that amount; with a backdrop like that, coupled with Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford at the helm, what more could you ask for?

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Cast:

Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Joss Ackland, J.J. Field, Lex Shrapnel

Director(s):

Kathryn Bigelow

Producer(s):

Joni Sighvatsson, Christine Whitaker, Kathryn Bigelow, Moritz Borman, Edward S. Feldman

Writer(s):

Christopher Kyle, Louis Nowra, William Broyles, Jr., Chris Kyle

Official Site:

http://www.k19movie.com/

Rated:

PG-13

for disturbing images

Length:

140 minutes

Released:

Jul 19, 2002

Stars:

4.5 out of 5

As I?ve stated many times before, I take great pleasure in viewing films with war-related subjects. Six months ago, I could barely contain myself when I saw the first trailer for ?K-19: The Widowmaker?. At first glance it appeared to be a story loosely based on the ?Kursk? incident, but after reading-up on the film, I was shocked to find out that it was entirely based on a true story. Considering the subject matter covered by director Kathryn Bigelow and Paramount studios, I can tell you that there must be some very unhappy socialists in the Kremlin these days with the K-19 story out in the open for masses to see.

The story starts off with Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) trying to complete the K-19 on time and as the opening sequences roll by, Kathryn Bigelow expertly exemplifies the urgency felt by the communist party to complete and deploy the K-19. As the story progresses, we see Alexi Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) make references to the K-19, referring to it as the ?pride? of the Soviet Navy. But, even after all is said and done, we are still left in the proverbial darkness, not really knowing why, or by whom the boat was rushed into operation. Based on the events and political struggle of the time, one can only assume the motive to be fear, and be that as it may, additional attention to this particular idiosyncrasy might have accented the story nicely. Bigelow, however, rushes to the climatic reactor problems and skips a lot of the underlying plot development needed to build a believable foundation for the story; an extra 20 minutes spent on Captains Polenin and Vostrikov, or on the Navy?s agenda would have made ?K-19? so much more than the typical, one-dimensional submarine disaster film.

It is inevitable that some of the amateur critics will have something to say over Harrison Ford?s and Liam Neeson?s ?Kevin Costner? moments, moments where the actors seem to intermittently lose and then regain their accents. British and Aussie accents may be one thing to mimic, but a Russian one is far more difficult to master, and, in the end, both Ford and Neeson develop passable Russian accents, making it hardly worth the effort to nit-pick over a few individual scenes.

The biggest selling factor in ?K-19? is the brutally honest approach that Bigelow uses to retell the events of 1961 and how it personifies the possible impact that the goings on might have had on the rest of the world. Thanks to the calm, collective thinking of Captains Polenin and Vostrikov, a potential nuclear disaster was averted. As demonstrated in ?The Sum of All Fears,? once a first strike occurs, there is very little hope of preventing an all-out nuclear war, and, if I might digress for a moment to further prove my point, what exactly was the first thing the US did after regaining their collective breath following the 9/11 attack? Precisely?they went searching for someone to bomb, to point a finger at, as they sought vengeance.

Despite the shortcomings in its back-story, ?K-19? certainly entertains and terrifies viewers at the same time. Whether it is the curse of the bottle bouncing off the hull during the christening, the leaking gasket that caused the sub to surface on her port side, the lack of radiation suits for the core workers, the nine men that died during construction in dry dock, or the Kremlin?s response to radiation poisoning, ?[give] the men some fruit?. Paramount pictures, Kathryn Bigelow, Liam Neeson, and Harrison Ford bring it all together to stretch the boundaries of comprehension when it comes to disaster recovery during times of high alert. Had this happened with an American submarine, military officials would have soon found themselves on Death Row.

Movies based on true stories are my Achilles Heel of film critiquing. You can?t really rip them to shreds because the story wasn?t plausible as the events actually took place and it becomes virtually impossible to ignore idiosyncrasies that detract from the film?s overall presentation. So how does one review movies based on factual events? Well, as the technique is classified Omega 17 here at Espy, I could tell you, but as you well know, I?d have to shoot you.

Aside from its few oversights, ?K19? is nonetheless highly entertaining while at the same time shocking. To know that the onscreen atrocities of ?K-19? have actually taken place appalls me because the Soviets put ?the party? first, and were willing to let the Eastern Seaboard pay for their audacity. Still, it?s a movie definitely worth seeing. ?K-19: The Widowmaker? is much more than a big Hollywood would-be flick starring big names like Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford; you?ll be far more captured by the story than you will by any one character.