This true-life story has solid performances by the cast and it's well made by one of the best female directors.

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 2007)

Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) is a well-liked captain by his crew. When he failed on a drill for his next mission on the first nuclear ballistic submarine. His replacement is a patriotic Russian naval officer Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford). While Mikhail stays as a executive officer in the sub. When they leave from Russia for a test voyage for the North Atlantic. But when the submarine faces a reactor failure on their mission. The Crew are ill prepared for the changes, they have to faced. Since this failure could unintentionally start World War 3.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days) made an exciting, tense drama. That is based on a true life military incident that happened in 1961 but this wasn't publicly revealed until the early 1990's. The two leads and the largely unknown supporting cast are good in this movie. This film was an major box office disappointment, despite receiving good reviews by film critics. This was released in the Summer of 2002. Although this film was badly marketed by Paramount. Which they marketed as a straight-forward submarine action movie like "The Hunt for the Red October" and "U-571". Ford, who also one of the executive producers. He gives an strong performance but he struggles with his Russian accent. Which his accent is always been on and off in the movie. Neeson is terrific in this and Peter Sarsgaard handles his role extremely well.
DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an strong-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD has an filmmakers commentary with the director and director of photography:Jeff Cronenweth (Down with Love, Fight Club, One Hour Photo), four featurettes and the original theatrical trailer. Director:Bigelow handles the suspense, excitement and tension quite well. But this film isn't probably as strong or thrilling as some viewers might expected. But this is the kind of movie plays better on DVD (especially if you got an great Home Theater). It's certainly worth viewing. Screenplay by Christopher Kyle (Alexander, The Weight of Water). From a story by Louis Nowra (Map of the Human Heart). Super 35. (*** Â½/*****).