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K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 167
Fresh: 101 | Rotten: 66

A gripping drama even though the filmmakers have taken liberties with the facts.

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 12

A gripping drama even though the filmmakers have taken liberties with the facts.

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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 43,747

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Movie Info

A real-life historical incident becomes the basis for this military thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow that's reminiscent of such submarine dramas as Das Boot (1981), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Crimson Tide (1995), and U-571 (2000). Harrison Ford stars as Captain Alexi Vostrikov, a Russian naval officer who's being given command of the Soviet Union's first nuclear submarine, K-19, at the height of the Cold War in 1961. The vessel's previous commander, Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam

PG-13, 2 hr. 18 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow

Written By: Louis Nowra, William Broyles, Christopher Kyle

In Theaters: Jul 19, 2002 Wide

On DVD: Dec 10, 2002

Box Office:$35.1M

Paramount Pictures

K-19: The Widowmaker Trailer & Photos

More Photos (21)

Cast

Harrison Ford
Captain Alexei Vostriko...
Liam Neeson
Mikhail Polenin
Peter Sarsgaard
Vadim Ratchenko
Joss Ackland
Marshal Zelentstov
John Shrapnel
Admiral Bratyeev
Donald Sumpter
Dr. Savran
Tim Woodward
Konstantin Partonov
Steve Nicolson
Demichev
Ravil Isyanov
Igor Suslov
Christian Camargo
Pavel Loktev
William Lucas
Yuzef Mankevitch
George Anton
Konstantin Poliansky
Ingvar E. Sigur�sson
Viktor Gorelov
Tygh Runyan
Maxim Portenko
Peter Stebbings
Maxim Kuryshey
Shawn Mathieson
Stepan Komarov
Sam Spruell

Critic Reviews for K-19: The Widowmaker

All Critics (182) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (106) | Rotten (67) | DVD (25)

What could have been a movie packed with historical significance and nail-gnawing underwater tension ends up little more than a lumbering public-service announcement for the human spirit.

July 25, 2002 Comment

Rex Reed

New York Observer

Top Critic

Bigelow hits all her marks and more within the narrow parameters.

July 23, 2002 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

Dennis Lim

Village Voice

Top Critic

[A] really strong work from start to finish.

July 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper

| Comment

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

More intellectually scary than dramatically involving.

July 19, 2002 Comment

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

Gets stuck in a no man's land between the real and the fictional.

July 19, 2002 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

Top Critic

Though this saga would be terrific to read about, it is dicey screen material that only a genius should touch.

July 19, 2002 Full Review Source: USA Today

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Mike Clark

USA Today

Top Critic

Intense wartime submarine movie celebrates heroism.

July 8, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Common Sense Media

...like so many films that find their way to Blu-ray, a very ordinary one. (Blu-ray Edition)

May 7, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

...takes its place among a small group of undersea motion pictures. Unfortunately, it takes its place at the end of the line.

May 7, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Bigelow, the only female action thriller director around is one tough chick with a camera, proving she can run a tight ship even if she is the only woman on board.

July 20, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

A brutally effective, brilliantly constructed dramatic thriller.

February 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

K-19 makes an American audience care about Communists trapped between a rock and a hard place deep beneath the sea.

December 6, 2004 Comment

Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Closer

Kathryn Bigelow's K-19 sinks to a watery grave.

May 19, 2004 Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

| Comment

Rob Nelson

City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Manages to find another way to become a big-budget Hollywood summer production that shamelessly panders to the lowest common denominator.

January 7, 2004 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com

| Comment

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

... A taut, skillfully-executed thriller anchored by two rock-solid leading men.

January 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

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Greg Maki

Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

Occasionally trying on accents that are reminiscent of a 'Rocky and Bullwinkle' cartoon, Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson have rarely been saddled with such awkward roles.

January 4, 2004 Full Review | Comment

Daniel M. Kimmel

Worcester Telegram & Gazette Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

O sotaque de Ford � inconstante e Bigelow tenta for�ar demais o drama. Vale pela hist�ria.

July 25, 2003 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

K-19: The Widowmaker may not be a keeper but Bigelow's films do lend themselves to repeat viewings.

April 21, 2003 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

It's a military maxim that there is no room for egos on a submarine. Which prompts the question if there's any more room for another military movie set below the waves?

March 13, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

| Comment

Harry Guerin

RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for K-19: The Widowmaker

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I'm ashamed to say that I've always passed this film of as being just another Submarine film full of the usual cliches no doubt, and so have never bothered with it. A foolish mistake as K-19 is a great film, full of drama and suspense but never over the top and, as I mentioned before, without cliched

January 30, 2012

Anthony Lawrie

Super Reviewer

What I thought would be a mediocre sub flick, turned out to be so much more. The Academy Award for Best Director that Kathryn Bigelow received last year, is well-deserved in the least. For two out of two war films I've seen by her now, that have been of very high calibre. Much of the credit, however, also goes to to

May 14, 2007