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Review by Harvey Karten
3 stars out of 4
Next time you go to the dentist for x-rays, note whether he
serves you red wine. This could be just a way to relax you or to
keep you as a patient, but chances are he saw "K-19:The
Widow maker." See, one of the things we learn from this often
tense, generally solid melodrama (inspired by real events that
took place in 1961) is that red wine can absorb some of the
impact of radiation poisoning. The stuff didn't help ten fellows
on the submarine appropriately called The Widowmaker
maybe because all they really had on board was vodka, since
everything else was screwed up quartermaster-wise but the film
does help the career of its director-producer Kathryn Bigelow,
one of the few women to helm movies that are anything but
chick-flicks.
The fifty year old Bigelow's major previous effort "Strange
Days" about a hustler who sells mental recordings of real-life
experiences is likewise macho fare. Her current picture recalls
in our minds such action-adventure tales as "Crimson Tide" (a
power play aboard a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine which almost
plunges the U.S. into war against Russia), "The Caine Mutiny"
(two officers mutiny against an unpopular captain), and of
course the classic "Das Boot (German U-boat on a mission
during World War 2). "K-19" lacks the hip dialogue of the first
and, in that the story takes place in the absence of a hot war,
the nail-biting tension of the third.
Christopher Kyle's screenplay sets up a conflict between the
newly appointed Captain Alexi Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) and his
chief executive officer, Captain Polenin (Liam Nelson) by
opening on a mission to test a sub's capacity to deliver nuclear
missiles. When the U-boat under Polenin's command fails to
deliver, the honchos back in Moscow demote Polenin, putting
him under Vostrikov's helmsmanship, which annoys the men on
board as much as Polenin particularly when the word gets out
that Vostrikov got his commission for political reasons.
Eager to see how the K-19 and its crew can execute
emergency functions, the hard-knuckled captain keeps the
sailors hopping with drills, some threatening the security of the
vessel itself. When the ill-equipped K-19 called The Widow
maker because ten people died in its very
construction develops an serious radiation leak which could not
only lead to the deaths of all aboard but could trigger a nuclear
explosion and World War III, Polenin sees his chance to
overthrow Vostrikov's command and assume control of the sub
himself.
The picture is marred by strictly serviceable dialogue. For
example, when handsome but fearful Vadim (Peter Sarsgaard)
tells Polenin that he was expecting to get married, Polenin
replies simply, "You will." (Wouldn't Vadim know that whenever
someone in a story says "you'll be fine," it's time to say your
prayers?) Nonetheless "K-19" has several positives going for it.
One is the occasional tension generated aboard this
claustrophobic setting as we watch the men conquer their fears
and in some cases agree to heroic acts that they probably knew
would lead to their painful demise. Another is Klaus Badelt's
pulsating, original music, which augments the emotions
captured by Jeff Cronenweith's ever-moving camera. Finally
there's the drama surrounding the growing antipathy between
the boat's two honchos as they struggle for power, making us
admire the always trustworthy acting of Harrison Ford and Liam
Nelson. Ford, who gets more chances to display his signature
half-smile, is just fine as the patriot worthy of the Order of Lenin
as he grimly determines never to betray the motherland. While
the more rational people on the sub backed by Neeson's
character are ready to accept the offer of help from Americans
on a nearby naval vessel, Vostrikov refuses to bend a knee to
"the enemy," even if his rigidity could lead to the deaths of all his
men.
"K-19: The Widow maker" stands out as one of the few
Hollywood movies that show the other side in this case the
Soviet military at a time of increasing hostilities between them
and the U.S. as human beings who can be as die-hard patriotic
and, even more, to be loyal to their comrades as we Americans
to our own. We in the audience can't be blamed if we feel like
cheering Vostrikov's decision to say "no thanks" to the forces in
our own country who would win a propaganda victory and a
chance to examine the Soviet sub if the offer were accepted.
"K-19," then, is well-acted, reasonably tense, yet another entry
into the field of movies dedicated to showing how lucky we are
that nuclear war has not broken out purely by accident.
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
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out of 4
