Review of K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) by Melvin W — 22 Dec 2012

Captain Alexei Vostrikov: We deliver, or we drown. .

"Fate has found its hero.".

To be honest, I didn't expect a movie half as good as the one I got from K-19: The Widowmaker. This is an extremely underrated film from a great director in Kathryn Bigelow and boasts a variety of good performances. The fact that this movie is so unknown and also unappreciated stuns me to a degree. This film is powerful, suspenseful, entertaining, and well made in every aspect. The movie looks good, it sounds good, it's well acted, well paced. What more could we really ask for from a submarine movie.

K-19 is a new Soviet submarine that has new technology on it that the Soviets believe will give them the upper hand in the Cold war. It's a nuclear reactor. The ship isn't ready to go out though, and when the captain of the sub(Liam Neeson) says that, he is relieved of duty by another captain(Harrison Ford). The two knock heads quite a few time on the mission, especially when things begin to go from bad to worse. The movie has an undeniable human element at work that many movies lack or just don't even try to accomplish. .

The reviews for this movie are, to put lightly, luke warm. Most of the time, I can see why some wouldn't like a movie that I find impressive, but this is one of those rare occasions where I just can't come to grips with it. Negative reviews speak of the movie putting too much emphasis on the human element of the story. It's too dramatic, and maybe too feel good in the end. Are we so out of touch with humanity that we would criticize a movie like this for including the most important part of any story? None of these critics argue that the movie isn't well made, but they will argue that it becomes too focused on the human element. Yeah, like that wasn't important to the actual people when it was taking place. Okay, I'm done ranting.

Despite some negativity in the reviews, I implore you to give this one a shot. It's a movie that will has power, while still informing on a situation in history that few people actually know about. I'm not saying that this is one of the best movies ever made, but it is one that I enjoyed highly and one I think a lot of other people would enjoy, if they give it a chance. .