K-19: The Widowmaker
by Kathryn Bigelow
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christian Camargo, Harrison Ford, Peter Stebbings, Roman Podhora, Sam SpruellDirector: Kathryn Bigelow
Brand: FORD,HARRISON
Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenweth
Editor: Walter Murch
Producer: Moritz Borman
Producer: Guy East
Producer: Dieter Nobbe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 137 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-12-10
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Films International
Movie Reviews of K-19: The Widowmaker
Movie Review: He turned himself into a hero!!
Summary: 4 Stars
Oh, No, not another Submarine movie! Well, yes. This film deals directly with the Soviet mindset (read: xenophobic), in general, and the utter lack of understanding in dealing with Atomic power, in particular.
The Soviet Union would not see the errors of their ways, until the Chernobyl disaster. On the K19, nuclear power would make this submarine the flagship of the Soviet Navy. As we see at the beginning of the film, it's Captain is deservedly frustrated with the Soviet procurement system that delivers sub-standard parts to be fitted to it's "flagship". He utters his displeasure publicly, which gets him demoted to Executive Officer, and a hardline Captain that has but one objective: To "successfully" test and evaluate the K19's abilities to function as a strategic weapon.
Add to this volatile mix a green Reactor Officer, who replaces the original Reactor Officer, after the latter is relieved of duty for drunkenness (which is to plague the Soviet Forces, as it does it's Citizens). Nothing good can come of this, and that assessment is proven right, when the Captain issues orders that at first glance, puts the boat in direct danger of foundering. The boat does well, after all, but the tension between the two Senior Officers places the rest of the K19's Officers to rally behind the XO, and rally they do, after one of the K19's reactors goes critical, because of (here we go again) shoddy workmanship.
During the crisis, the XO relinquishes command back to the Captain, and it is here, where we see the crew work as one to not only save the boat, but themselves as well. The first seven crewmen to affect repairs to the reactor are sure goners, as the levels of radiation in the reactor room are well past lethal. Repairs are successful, after the second try, and the Captain makes the difficult decision to surrender the boat to American Authorities, because he realises that to wait for help from Soviet Naval Authorities means there will likely be no one left alive to see the boat limp home. All this becomes unnecessary when another Soviet sub comes to the K19's aid!
During the Captain's Mast, those Officers who were able to testify to the actions of the Captain during this crisis all came forward to state that the Captain issued orders that saved the boat, and the men left in his care, as well as the Soviet Union, from Nuclear attack by the United States, were the worst to happen, after the disaster. For all this, he never commanded another vessel for the remainder of his career. The dedication at the end of the film gives one a sobering view of how the Soviet Machine regarded it's human component.
There are thrills and chills aplenty in this film. Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson are effective as Captain Vostrikov and the Captain-demoted-to-XO Polenin. Peter Sarsgaard plays the green Reactor Officer very well, and is quickly becoming an Actor to watch for.
There are special features of note on the DVD, such as a "making of", and three featurettes on the technical aspect of creating the K19 for the screen. While "K19, The Widowmaker" isn't the best Submarine film (that title still belongs to "Das Boot") out there, it is exceptionally entertaining.
Summary of K-19: The Widowmaker
During the Cold War, an poorly prepared Soviet submarine goes on its maiden voyage and the crew must work to prevent a nuclear disaster.Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 28-MAR-2006
Media Type: DVD
Based on an incident that was officially suppressed for 28 years, K-19: The Widowmaker is a fine addition to the "sub-genre" of submarine thrillers. The first major American film about Russian cold war heroes, it re-creates the nightmare endured in 1961 by the crew of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19, when an exposed reactor core nearly resulted in a nuclear catastrophe. Several crewmen died, and K-19's captain (played by Harrison Ford) had to assert his command when near-mutiny favored his executive officer (Liam Neeson). This escalating tension gives the film its potent dramatic thrust, and both Ford and Neeson deliver intense performances while director Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Strange Days) ably controls a sub full of seething testosterone. It's not as viscerally thrilling as the classic Das Boot or U-571, and some K-19 survivors protested the inclusion of inauthentic drinking scenes, but the movie benefits from grand-scale production values, seamless computer graphics, and a compelling real-life twist. --Jeff Shannon
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