Decent Military Melodrama

Rating: 5/10 (29 May 2015)

K-19 is the story of a Russian nuclear submarine that bites off more than it can chew; hastily rushed into production, the sub goes on a operational mission to test-launch a nuclear missile. Problem is that their reactor malfunctions and turns them into 1.5 megaton H- Bomb waiting to happen. The engineering crew has to resort to desperate/suicidal measures to get the problem under control.
This is a fine premise for a thriller plot, and indeed Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson turn in their usual outstanding performances. The problem, however, is that the movie seems somehow a bit overdone. The action is accompanied by a sweeping romantic film score that often seems to impose its will and intrude on the action. Some scenes are done with a flair for melodrama and overacting that takes away from the outstanding human story.
Still, it is a decent popcorn muncher.