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Movies / On DVD / K-19: The Widowmaker
K-19: The Widowmaker

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K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

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Reviews Counted:33

Fresh:21

Rotten:12

Average Rating:6.3/10

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

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for disturbing images

Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Jul 19, 2002 Wide

Box Office: $35,100,183

Synopsis: Inspired by a true story that was kept secret until the fall of communism, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER is a tale of ordinary men who sacrifice everything for their shipmates and their country. In 1961,... Inspired by a true story that was kept secret until the fall of communism, K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER is a tale of ordinary men who sacrifice everything for their shipmates and their country. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, an ill-prepared Russian nuclear missile submarine embarks on its maiden voyage with near-disastrous consequences. When the sub's nuclear reactor malfunctions, Captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) makes some decisions that are unpopular with the crew. Tensions mount as radiation levels rise throughout the submarine and there is no respite in sight. If the sub explodes, it may cause an international incident as it may be mistaken as an attack on a nearby NATO base and an American Navy destroyer that is in the area. If the sub dives deep below the surface, perhaps the malfunction can be fixed, but the loss of some lives is then inevitable. The Executive Officer, Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson), who formerly commanded the sub, can placate the crew, but must decide where his own loyalties lie. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (BLUE STEEL, POINT BREAK), this thriller examines the Cold War from the Russian perspective, an uncommon point of view in American films. [More]

Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard, Joss Ackland

Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard, Joss Ackland, J.J. Field, Lex Shrapnel, Tim Woodward, George Anton

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Screenwriter: Louis Nowra, William Broyles, Christopher Kyle
Producer: Kathryn Bigelow, Joni Sighvatsson, Christine Whitaker, Edward S. Feldman, Moritz Borman
Composer: Klaus Badelt
Studio: Paramount Pictures

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Release:

Dec 10, 2002

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Reviews for K-19: The Widowmaker

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/06/02
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
08/09/02
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
07/28/02
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
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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.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
07/25/02
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer
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Bigelow hits all her marks and more within the narrow parameters.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
07/23/02
Dennis Lim
Dennis Lim
Village Voice
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[A] really strong work from start to finish.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
07/22/02
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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More intellectually scary than dramatically involving.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/19/02
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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Gets stuck in a no man's land between the real and the fictional.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/19/02
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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Though this saga would be terrific to read about, it is dicey screen material that only a genius should touch.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
07/19/02
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
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The movie's centrepiece is as close to tour-de-force suspense filmmaking as you'll see anywhere this summer.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
07/19/02
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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Bigelow is known for making good, visceral movies, but here she adopts a kind of dignified watchfulness, and that feels right for the material.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
07/19/02
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
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A salute is in order for Bigelow, a director who knows how to navigate macho terrain without losing her human compass.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
07/19/02
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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A thriller without a lot of thrills.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
07/19/02
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
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If you enjoy the tense claustrophobia of submarine thrillers, K-19 fills the bill.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/19/02
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
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Apart from its exhaustingly repetitive attention to the contrasting Ford and Neeson characters, the movie has virtually no interest in the secondary and tertiary characters whose heroism, jitters, sacrifice and suffering are at the heart of the story.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
07/19/02
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
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As intelligent as it is suspenseful.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
07/19/02
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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At its best, it almost makes you feel proud to have been a Soviet communist, -- even if you weren't.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
07/19/02
Steven Rosen
Steven Rosen
Denver Post
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While the film deals with serious issues based on fact, its emotional tone is too solemn. All hands aboard K-19 seem to have deluded themselves into believing that they're making an American Das Boot.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
07/19/02
Philip Wuntch
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
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It's not your Dad's submarine melodrama, and, for the most part, it's exciting stuff.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
07/19/02
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
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It's almost impossible not to be moved by the movie's depiction of sacrifice and its stirring epilogue in post-Soviet Russia.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
07/19/02
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
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