Good film that leads people to think.

Rating: Null/10 (22 July 2002)

K-19: The Widowmaker is not your typical summer film. Usually, a summer movie brings with it a lot of action and hardly any substance. K-19 manages to deliver both, while making Communists that are extremely big threats to the US characters to be sympathized with.
*Spoilers ahead*
From the beginning, we see in action what history records- the fact that Communists tried to do too much with too little. Badly trailing the US in the arms race, the Soviet Union is out to make the point that they have some capabilities, and that a nuclear strike on Moscow or another major city will result in quick, devastating retribution.
Liam Neeson brings a great deal of likeability to the character of Captain Mikhail Polenin, who is demoted to Executive Officer from his original position of Captain of the K-19, the first Communist nuclear-powered submarine, when a drill that is being overseen by top Communist officials goes wrong because of second tier equipment.
Harrison Ford is Captain Alexi Vostrikov, the son of a member of the Bolshevik revolution who died in the Gulag because of "loyalty" issues. While it is unusual and humorous to see "Jack Ryan" as a Russian, Ford brings an intensity to his role that commands attention. Vostrikov is under severe pressure to make sure K-19 is the best thing ever to happen to the USSR. Throughout the first part of the movie, he pushes the sub to its limits, which results in problems for the sub later on. The crew is all but enthusiastic about the voyage, as they believe the ship to be doomed, with good cause- 10 people died before the ship left port, and the champagne bottle bounced off the sub at the christening.
The first 45-50 minutes does kind of drag on for a while, but there are some moments that are played out quite well. Once the movie enters its main plot, things start to roll and never stop till the end, keeping your attention.
After a successful test missile is launched, K-19 is ordered to proceed past the NATO base and close to the eastern seaboard of the USA, where it would be perfectly lined up to fire on D.C. or New York if need be. But after a pressure leak in the nuclear reactor, the crew of K-19 finds itself fighting for their lives, and questioning their loyalties.
I was amazed by how much I forgot during the movie that I was watching a true story, a story that, if one or two things had been different, could have gone down as the start of WWIII. The moviemakers do a good job of causing you to forget that you are watching past enemies, and instead lead you to look on these characters as fellow human beings that want to get home and be with their families, or at least with one character, get married. It is easy to forget that you are watching people that were trained to blow up your country. Having lived close to D.C. my whole life, it can be unsettling to think of what is going on out there that you have no clue about. In this case, the story of K-19 couldn't be told 'till communism fell in 1989.
While not Ford's best, it certainly ranks up there with some of the bigger name war films(my favorite sub movie remains the incredible U-571), if not just for its thought provoking content. I like how it points out the failure of the communist system, and it reminds its audience to be thankful that they live in a free country.