The Anti-Imperialist Dudmarine

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2013)

Back in the heat of cold war, the Soviet Union entered into an ill-advised technological advancement war. Despite initial much publicised success the effort strained the country, when funds and ingenuity were diverted from more pressing needs. Nonetheless the K-19 nuclear submarine was another great achievement of Russian thought, not to undermine the ultimate failure of internal machinery. Too proud for reason the Soviet Union decides to float the boat, despite an onslaught of minor faults still troubling the technical crew. The more familial Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) tries to delay deployment, but ultimately his superior and first-in-command Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) holds the decision. Dedicated to the Soviet Union and instructions from above, despite misgivings Vostrikov orders the K-19 to be floated and the crew soon journeys into the international waters. Unfortunately, the unthinkable and inevitable occurs...
Unabashedly dedicated to war history Kathryn Bigelow warps the standard and delves into a story without American warships and submarine, instead omitting the ideological backdrop and capturing the human ordeal behind the ill-fated K-19. And this is her main point of valour, as unfortunately the story itself fails to really hit, sometimes forced to advance through standardised Hollywood gimmicks. Nonetheless the attempts to avert a nuclear catastrophe by the crew, who haphazardly try to weld a radioactive leak, is as gut-wrenching as it is mesmerising. Pretty damning liberties with the facts in order to guarantee 'narrative flow' are one point of contention, the other a somewhat 'ghost in the machine' resolution of the tentative relationship between Polenin and Vostrikov (not to mention that the whole worn-down theme of conflict between the ship captain and his second in charge seemed derivative to the more dreaded occurrences on the ship). The trite resolution of the conflict unmistakeably comes with buoyant music and some artless angelic comeuppance. Harrison Ford is of no help with his shifting accent and lack of conviction.
Making the movie feel somewhat like the submarine itself: a bloated chaotic mess released into the cinematic waters despite its apparent flaws. Not entirely successful in its endeavour, Bigelow does manage to show some of her directorial creds, but the overall product is watchable in its excess, but hardly memorable in retrospect.