Another Good Submarine Film

Rating: 9/10 (25 September 2012)

A real-life historical incident becomes the basis for this military thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow that's reminiscent of such submarine dramas as Das Boot, The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, and U-571 in this film,K-19: The Widowmaker.It stars Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson together with Peter Sarsgaard,,Joss Ackland and John Shrapnel. The screenplay was adapted by Christopher Kyle, based on a story written by Louis Nowra.
Captain Alexi Vostrikov is a Russian naval officer who's being given command of the Soviet Union's first nuclear submarine, K-19, at the height of the Cold War in 1961. The vessel's previous commander, Captain Mikhail Polenin has been demoted to executive officer following a botched test and his outspoken assertions that the flagship is not yet ready for deployment, but he curbs his resentment and resolves to serve his new superior well. The former commander has concerns that are well founded: parts are not yet installed, equipment is missing, and the ship's doctor is killed in an auto mishap. Political pressure forces Vostrikov to sail his crew into the North Atlantic anyway, for a missile fire test that serves as a warning to the U.S. that its enemy is now its technological equal. The test is a success, but a disastrous leak in the K-19's reactor cooling system soon threatens to create enough heat to detonate the craft's nuclear payload wherein would certainly be mistaken for the first salvo in a worldwide atomic exchange and spark the beginning of World War III. With no other option, Vostrikov orders his men to repair the damage in ten-minute shifts, irradiating them hopelessly. The conflict between the seemingly bureaucratic Communist Vostrikov and the more humane Polenin escalates, until a surprising twist reveals where both officers' loyalties truly lie.
This is a gripping drama even though the filmmakers have taken liberties with the real facts.Also,it can be considered a brutally effective and brilliantly constructed dramatic thriller wherein intense wartime submarine movie celebrates heroism.This is also a taut, skillfully- executed film anchored by two rock-solid leading men in Ford and Neeson as well as talented director in Bigelow.Overall,it makes the audience care for Soviets who are trapped between a rock and a hard place deep beneath the sea.