Great movie!

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2002)

K-19 The Widow Maker is a powerful, moving film about the challenges of leadership and the functioning of people as individuals and a team when under great duress. It was particularly appreciated after watching the previews of the drivel of entertainment which is to come to theaters in coming weeks. I found that it riveted my attention for its full 138 minutes and even left me watching the credits at the end. Actors Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson were superb in presenting their characters. It was refreshing for a change to see a motion picture in which I detected no unrealisms induced in order to be politically correct for our day and age.
My criticisms would be limited to some technical flaws with the way authors and Hollywood often portray the functioning of the military. I can not speak with authority on the Soviet Navy but it seems most reasonable that even under the heavy political pressure they were to put a ship to sea and have it operational in minimal time, there would still have been a detailed plan for sea trials which would start over time with minimal demand maneuvers, building up over time to pushing the envelope of maximum performance. A schedule which would be carefully planned and analyzed by engineers and designers, not at the whim of the commander. Every critical crew member would have been briefed and trained to the routine and the expected performance of each performance and drill. Probably the engineers and designers would be on board for those tests. It seems highly unlikely that a full missile launch drill would be conducted while the ship was still under final construction in the dry dock. A test missile launch could not have been suddenly launched at the desire of the commanding officer without lots of preplanning, communication, watching and clearance by the authority conducting the test. The main threat of the reactor problem was presented as the possibility of a thermonuclear explosion, which just could not happen. A melt down of the reactor which would leave the sub destroyed and cause major pollution of the ocean and perhaps atmosphere, is the more likely threat.
Other critics have commented on Harrison Ford's accent, which I found consistent and not a problem. It has also been criticized that Americans might be turned off by the Russian patriotism displayed and the anti-American propaganda. I personally did not find it so, but appreciated the realism which portrayed obvious love of motherland that people in every nation feel and the resentment of the attitudes and tactics of the enemy of the times as the United States was then to them. The fallacies of the Soviet system were readily apparent as well, and provided some understanding as to why the system failed.
This is one of the better films I have seen in recent years and rate it 9 on a scale of ten. It should be a "must see" for those who like military action films or the drama of how leaders respond in stressful situations to get the jobs of mission and welfare of followers worked out.