K-19: The Widowmaker - The Cincinnati Enquirer - July 19, 2002

Tension runs deep
in 'K-19'

Ford, Neeson gripping in true story of
imperiled Russian sub

By Margaret A. McGurk
The Cincinnati Enquirer

K-19: The Widowmaker

(PG-13; disturbing images)
Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard.
Kathryn Bigelow.
138 minutes.
Playing at:
AMC 20, Danbarry Middletown, Great Escape 14, National Amusements, Showplace 8.
Submarines make great drama, just like space vehicles.

The recipe is classic: Put volatile characters in a cramped space and hostile environment, add lethal danger, strike a match and watch the tension bloom.

K-19: The Widowmaker has all the basics in place, plus the added zest of historical fact.

The movie recounts events on board the first Russian sub of the ''hotel'' class, a nuclear-powered ship designed to carry ballistic missiles in the 1960s, when the Cold War tensions ran perilously high.

Rushed into service, the sub is plagued with problems; even before it sails, crewmen are muttering that it is cursed.

Political intrigue ups the ante when military authorities send Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) in to run the operation, demoting the previous (and well loved) captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson).

Vostrikov seems a cold-blooded functionary as he presses the crew to nerve-wracking limits, and Polenin seems the populist voice as he protests. But when the cooling system on the sub's nuclear reactor breaks down, their relationship proves more complex than it seems.

The stakes in the crew's race to fix the reactor couldn't be higher. Not only would all 139 on board die, but the United States could mistake a meltdown for an attack, setting off global nuclear war.

Stars and supporting cast (particularly Peter Sarsgaard as an overwhelmed young officer) do a rock-solid job, although the peculiar semi-Russian accent they all adopt is distracting at first. The fact that they are playing our old enemies makes their struggles with issues of duty, loyalty, honor and bravery all the more interesting.

Director Kathryn Bigelow locks onto the heart-stopping suspense of the desperate struggle to save the sub, an effort that required incredible acts of self-sacrifice and bravery. She also seamlessly meshes underwater photography and special effects to create a compelling sense of how the submarine moved.

The final scenes take place many years after the crisis at a reunion of survivors; its emotional impact is attenuated by murky scripting that seems to suggest their chief complaint was a lack of publicity.

Still, K-19 is an adventure that respects its audience, and does a fine old genre proud.

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