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Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2006)

K-19: The Widowmaker is a very interesting movie. Based on actual events in 1961, this film shows actually how close the world came to a full fledged nuclear war between the super powers. When the Soviet Union's very first nuclear submarine malfunctions, it is only hours until it creates a nuclear disaster two times the size of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The fast paced plot keeps the viewer entranced in this roller coaster ride of a film. Casting quality actors such as Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson was not a problem, it was the quality of acting they put forth with poor accents. Action was plentiful with many twists and turns that Director and Producer Kathryn Bigelow uses throughout the film.
K-19: The Widowmaker starts very quickly with a training drill that goes wrong because of a burnout in the ignition sequence. The reason for the electrical problem is the Soviet Union's budget cuts which then lead to corner cutting. The Soviet Union is more concerned with organizing party VIP tours while K-19 is stuck with incompetent yard crews and defective parts. This foreshadows the many problems that the submarine and crew will face throughout the entire movie.
Series of problems and bad luck continue throughout the movie beginning with the electrical failure. Then at the christening of the submarine, the champagne bottle did not break against the boat. Every sailor in the world knows that this is a very bad sign. Next, the ship doctor realizes he received the wrong drugs. Dr. Gavril hurries off the off the ship in an attempt to flag down the medicine truck and becomes road kill. Five die from fumes sealing the tanks, four in construction, and a partridge in a pear tree. With ten crew members dead before leaving the dock, the crew nicknames the boat "The Widowmaker", no argument here. The sequences of drama at the beginning of the movie keeps the viewer interested early on and throughout.
As for the quality of acting, the one thing that really stood out was poor accents. In one particular scene, Harrison Ford's character Comrade Captain Alexei Vostrikov gave a speech to his crew. He began to tell them that Moscow was pleased with their test missile firing and that they have been rewarded with a new mission. Harrison Ford's accent fluctuates between American and Russian throughout the speech. At most times during the film I thought that Indiana Jones was the captain of a nuclear submarine. On the other hand, Liam Neeson does a very good job portraying Executive Officer Comrade Captain Mikhail Polenin opposite Harrison Ford.
As for the Action, it was quite frequent throughout the movie. From Comrade Captain Vostrikov's constant submarine drills to prepare the crew in case of a nuclear disaster. He does this keep them ready and on their toes. Second, Comrade Captain Vostrikov takes the boat below crush depth, surfacing the submarine through about a meter of ice in the North Atlantic to fire a test nuclear missile. The crew also has to take measurements to contain radiation leakage from the reactor core and dealing with the problem of radiation poisoning.
Louis Nowra writes a winner of a story and Christopher Kyle does a very good job on the screenplay. K-19: The Widowmaker suffers from a feeling of disconnection being so far from the motherland, even as numbers of brave men are sent into the nuclear reactor with cheap chemical suits because the Soviet Union did not want to spend the money on radiation suits. This film could have been better, and it could have been a lot worse. In conclusion, if you do not nitpick about accents in films, K-19: The Widowmaker is well worth your time.