K-19: The Widowmaker is a story that is based on true events set during the Cold War Era. The Russians are carrying out a series of tests out in the Atlantic when their reactor ends up badly damaged which results in several crew members being badly exposed to radiation. As a result Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) and his crew must put everything they learnt into practice to prevent a catastrophic nuclear incident from occurring.I knew very little about this film when I started watching it, but quickly became interested when I learnt that it was 38 years after the events had taken place that anyone was able to talk about what had happened - the fall of Communism was what allowed this story to be told.The issue I had with this film is that it really only has three components to it; there's all the drills and training that we see (early on with Neeson and his crew) then later out at the sea with Ford in charge of the mission. Then there is the failure of the reactor and then we have the final sequence of events and the ending. Bigelow stages the action well and the various close ups, claustrophobia and obvious pain that we see from some of the men did help to at least keep me involved in what she's put in front of me. The problem I had with this film is that it was a tad repetitive - the drills and training kept me involved for about 30 minutes, but when you're seeing the same thing for about an hour it does start to get a bit boring. The second half focuses on the reactor breaking down and again it adds excitement and intensity, but again only in short bursts. If you have 120 minutes worth of film that only focuses on two things then you really need to make these two things compelling, exciting, intense and/or entertaining for at least the majority of the time. Sadly, K-19; The Widowmaker doesn't do this consistently enough making it a very much hit and miss affair.There are some positives here and firstly it has to be said that Neeson and Ford were both very good here (even though their Russian accents were a bit dodgy): both men play-off well against each other and the power struggle that they face against each other make their scenes interesting to watch. Bigelow's direction is superb, the cinematography is excellent and the action sequences are framed together very well. The final sequence of events are also very moving.K-19: The Widowmaker isn't a bad film, but it is a little repetitive and drawn out and for those reasons it isn't entirely successful across its 133 minute running time. It's worth a look for historical reasons, but it's far from being a great film.

Long after Harrison Ford was Han Solo, he was Captain Alexi Vostrikov, and long before Liam Neeson was Brian Mills, Qui Gon Jin or Oskar Shindler, he was Captain Mikhail Potenin in "K-19: Widowmaker"For sown unknown reason I don't like submarine movies, I just find them slow moving and dull (That includes "The Hunt For Red October") "U571" is the only exception. Ford and Neeson are always watchable though, so I decided to give it a go when it was starting on TV tonight. Plot In A Paragraph: It's the height of the 1960's Cold War, and Russia launches the K-19, a flagship nuclear submarine. Aboard this submarine are Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) and executive officer Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) who is popular amongst the crew. Tension run high between the two, as they clash on regularly occasions . When the vessel's nuclear reactor system begins to leak, the two men and their crew must become brave countrymen to avoid a disaster.It was what I expected it to be (OK I didn't expect either of them to go with dodgy accents) a slow moving tension filled movie on a sub. Though it was a refreshing change to see a movie where Americans were not the brave heroes. The ending didn't fill me with the anger it should have (which was a shame) and I'll probably never watch it again, as whilst Ford and Neeson are as watchable as always, but these are not two of their finest hours.

its superb....fabtastic.. splendid..breathtaking, what else i can say.... what an film ...!!acting wise competition between Harrison ford and Liam Neeson...starting to finish breathtaking ....put you on edge of seat...go and watch it else you'll regret later....lifetime acting by both of actors and the crew.... its setting is superb.....i wanna watch it again and again again........ again....10/10 for movie.. it worth more than that...

This one is worth picking up.Going to get something out of the way that for some reason people are saying: Nuclear weapons don't accidentally go off, HOWEVER, those are weaponized, not a nuclear core in the first Russian nuclear submarine that no one truly knew how to run (hence the drama). They didn't know how things would react and the project was rushed, enough said.That out of the way, this movie is slow but fast enough for you to not be bored. Camera work and acting is above normal and there is enough drama that you wont want to turn the movie off. I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail because it is a classic sub story that just so happens to be inspired by real events. Aside from that, there is nothing new, exciting, out of this world thing that has never been done before.My one major complaint, while nitpicking and not really impacting the review rating is that the cast could have spent more time practicing their accents. Neeson might as well have been American to be honest.7/10