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K-19: The Widowmaker

6.0

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Original title

K-19: The Widowmaker

Year

2002

Running time

138 min.

Country

United States

Director

Kathryn Bigelow

Screenwriter

Christopher Kyle. Story: Louis Nowra

Cast

Music

Klaus Badelt

Cinematography

Jeff Cronenweth

Producer

Co-production United States-United Kingdom-Germany;

Paramount Pictures, Intermedia Films

Genre

Thriller. Drama | Cold War. Submarines. Based on a true story. 1960s

Synopsis

Inspired by a true story that was kept secret until the fall of communism, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER is a tale of ordinary men who sacrifice everything for their shipmates and their country. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, an ill-prepared Russian nuclear missile submarine embarks on its maiden voyage with near-disastrous consequences. When the sub's nuclear reactor malfunctions, Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) makes some decisions that are unpopular with the crew. Tensions mount as radiation levels rise throughout the submarine and there is no respite in sight. If the sub explodes, it may cause an international incident as it may be mistaken as an attack on a nearby NATO base and an American Navy destroyer that is in the area. If the sub dives deep below the surface, perhaps the malfunction can be fixed, but the loss of some lives is then inevitable. The Executive Officer, Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson), who formerly commanded the sub, can placate the crew, but must decide where his own loyalties lie. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (BLUE STEEL, POINT BREAK), this thriller examines the Cold War from the Russian perspective, an uncommon point of view in American films.

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Critics' reviews

"With uncommon ineptitude even by the standards of contemporary action flicks, Kyle's script submerges the inherently dramatic tale of the K-19 under a pile of clichés"

Jonathan Foreman: New York Post
"Obediently follows the verities of the submarine movie and its true story origins but without the imagination needed to refresh the genre"

Robert Koehler: Variety
"(Director Bigelow) piles up one nerve-racking crisis after another, interspersed with moments of ethereal, almost otherworldly beauty."

Dana Stevens: The New York Times
"Despite its exciting moments, the film is too long"

Connie Ogle: Miami Herald
"The movie gradually works its way, with quiet intelligence and apparent conviction, until there's no turning from it. An hour in, and we're on that boat"

Mick LaSalle: SFgate
"Bigelow gives this film edge, tension and something you aren't expecting: a woman's touch for teasing out the buried emotion beneath those stoic surfaces"

Michael Wilmington: Chicago Tribune
"K-19 will not go down in the annals of cinema as one of the great submarine stories, but it is an engaging and exciting narrative of Man confronting the Demons of his own fear and paranoia"

James Berardinelli: ReelViews
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K-19: The Widowmaker

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