A confused mess

Rating: 3/10 (6 March 2004)

The real story of what happened on a nuclear sub is as heartbreaking and glorious a tale that can be told. The tragedy of what happened is off set just a little by the ability of men to rise to save their friends and to honor those who led them.
So it is sad that I have to report that the story of a Russian sub that has a nuclear reactor accident while at sea and has to deal with the danger inside the ship and th politics back home has been made into such a mess of a movie.
Harrison Ford is seriously wrong in the role of the Captain of the ship. This is probably his worst screen performance. He is aided by a cast that allow their accents to drift like a rudderless ship on the ocean.

The real problem is the film making which makes the events so confused that I had to watch a program from the History Channel to get it all right in my head again. Things are so badly portrayed that there is almost no tension.
The high point of the film is near the end of the film where the crew comes together years after the fact to honor their fallen ship mates. Here is the kick in heart moment that you were waiting for for the previous two hours. Except for this moment and the promise of what might have been this movie really has no reason to exist.