Taglines: Fate has found its hero.
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 and popular executive officer Mikhail Polenin. Tension can easily be felt between the two, as they constantly clash, but both share the unwavering patriotism. When the vessel’s nuclear reactor system begins to leak, the two men and their crew must become brave countrymen and work together before all is lost.
K-19: The Widowmaker is a 2002 historical thriller film about the first of many disasters that befell the Soviet submarine K-19. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and stars Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard, George Anton, Joss Ackland, Shaun Benson, Christopher Redman, Dmitry Chepovetsky and Tygh Runyan. The screenplay was adapted by Christopher Kyle, with the story written by Louis Nowra, based on real life events depicted in a book by Peter Huchthausen. The film is an international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada.
When K-19: The Widowmaker was premiered in Russia in October 2002, 52 veterans of the K-19 submarine accepted flights to the Saint Petersburg premiere; despite what they saw as technical as well as historical compromises, they praised the film and in particular the performance of Harrison Ford.
In his review, film critic Roger Ebert compared K-19: The Widowmaker to other classic films of the genre, “Movies involving submarines have the logic of chess: The longer the game goes, the fewer the possible remaining moves. ‘K-19: The Widowmaker’ joins a tradition that includes Das Boot and The Hunt for Red October and goes all the way back to Run Silent, Run Deep. The variables are always oxygen, water pressure and the enemy. Can the men breathe, will the sub implode, will depth charges destroy it?”
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Oirected by: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard, George Anton, Joss Ackland, Shaun Benson, Christopher Redman, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Tygh Runyan
Screenplay by: Christopher Kyle
Production Design by: Petter J. Borgli, Gilles Bélanger
Cinematography by: Jeff Cronenweth
Film Editing by: Walter Murch
Costume Design by: Marit Allen
Set Decoration by: Ian Greig, Carol Lavallee
Art Direction by: Arvinder Grewal, Angela Murphy, William Ladd Skinner
Music by: Klaus Badelt
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: July 19, 2002
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