Review of K-19: The Widowmaker Harrison Ford & Liam Neeson star as two Russian submarine captains at odds on the historic voyage of Russia’s first nuclear sub, K-19. Launching with an inexperienced crew, a seasick doctor, and not even a successful test run, but desperately needed in the eyes of the communist party because the U.S. already has a fleet of nuclear subs sailing the ocean, problems are bound to occur, and these kind of problems put the very fate of the world at stake.
First off, the most obvious problem is the accents. If I weren’t consistently reminded throughout the movie, I’d never guess any of the crew was Russian, as none of them can handle a Russian accent, especially Ford &
Neeson (despite the fact that they both put on good performances), who seem to break in and out of their accent at regular intervals of 10 seconds. It probably would’ve been a lot better if it was fully in Russian with English
subtitles. And I know this is a based on a true story, but it’s just way too much between the crew screwing up, the reactor bursting twice, crewman jumping off the boat in a desperate attempt to save themselves, and other
things I won’t mention so as not too spoil too much of the plot. And even with all this, it can’t keep up the great suspense and tension you’ve seen in other great sub movies like Crimson Tide and Hunt for Red October. The
movie also runs way too long, as it shows the some of the events after the mission, which would’ve probably been more effective if quickly shown as text or done simply in a voice-over, as the movie badly needed about 30 minutes
cut from it. Bottom line on this movie is that it’s so overloaded that it almost sinks.
Final Grade: C+
11:12:01 AM 
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