K-19: The Widowmaker

Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard, Sam Spruell, Christian Camargo, Tim Woodward, Christopher Redman
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2002

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: K-19 is Russia's first nuclear submarine. When a malfunction occurs on board, the crew races frentically to repair the damage and save their own lives.

Review:

Tim: K-19: The Widowmaker is a movie I thought I would like more than I did. It's not necessarily a bad movie, but it still has a strong scent of disappointment. This is a bit odd, because many of the pieces were in place for this to be a successful film. You have a very competent action director in Kathryn Bigelow, you have a great cast of Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, and Peter Sarsgaard, and you have a movie set on a submarine, which easily lends itself to suspense and excitement. And yet, the finished product feels a bit underwhelming.

The first problem is a difficult one for the producers to tackle. Our heroes in this film are all members of the Soviet Union, the sworn enemy of the United States during the Cold War. While it makes it a bit more difficult to root for them (at least for American audiences like myself), films have done well with making characters like this sympathetic before. While we eventually do root for them to a certain extent, I never really cared for them all that much. I wasn't invested in their plight, and not just because they were Communists. Bigelow never effectively bridges the gap and makes us care about the characters on screen. This greatly undermines the rest of the film.

The Soviet angle hurts the film because it requires the cast to speak with Russian accents. This does not go well. It really bums me out, because Harrison Ford desperately needs to take more chances with his career. Unfortunately, it seems like every time he attempts to branch out, it backfires. On paper, I absolutely love this movie- he plays the captain of a doomed Russian sub. However, his performance is questionable. He certainly stretches himself, but his accent is never truly convincing. I thought he was fine, but I had a hard time believing him as a Russian. This is even moreso for Liam Neeson. I felt like Ford tried with the accent, but Neeson didn't seem to value that aspect of his performance very highly. It's a shame, because the pairing of Ford and Neeson should have been memorable and terrific, but the whole thing feels a bit underwhelming to me. They do have a few good moments together, but ultimately, their presence is too forgettable.

I am a huge fan of submarine movies. There is something about the claustrophobic feel of the enclosed space, surrounded by unfathomable amounts of dark water that just gets me excited and in the mood for a thrilling film. This one is a little bit different because the main threat our protagonists face is not external, but inside their own submarine. They face a nuclear meltdown on board. Now, this very idea is crazy and frightening, and should have created an unforgettable roller coaster of a movie. To be fair, there are some incredible scenes of sailors suffering from extreme radiation poisoning that are among the best of the film. In these moments, Bigelow shines. However, outside of the radiation poisoning, I felt Bigelow really missed multiple opportunities to ratchet up the suspense and the thrills. This true story is absolutely nuts, yet it never makes a major impact on me. The sailors aboard K-19 were truly heroes, but that message doesn't effectively come across on screen. This is another complaint I had (which was shared by many). The soldiers are depicted as inexperienced, drunk, and mutinous. That doesn't exactly make me care about them or become emotionally invested in whether or not they survive. What's worse is that it is generally agreed that the sailors in real life were not this way. All in all, the movie misses an absurdly high number of opportunities to sell us on the story and the excitement. It fails in far too many areas.

Another area the film trips on is the length. I've complained about film length numerous times, but I am not opposed to long films. I do get frustrated when a film takes far too long to tell a story that could have effectively been told in a more streamlined way. There is no way this movie needed to run 138 minutes. That's just too much of a marathon for a story about Soviets getting sick from radiation on board a submarine. Bigelow needed this film to come in under 2 hours. This did make the film feel a bit epic, but it is simply too much work to get through it. That hurts the film.

Now, I did not hate K-19: The Widowmaker. It is a decent film and it does feature several truly incredible moments. However, the film as a whole does not feel like a great effort. It misses opportunities to do something special and feels far too forgettable for such a long movie. This whole film felt like a misstep and a disappointment. I wanted to like this movie because Hollywood doesn't make enough submarine films, but I just could not get myself to buy into this one.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: U-571, The Hunt for Red October