K-19: The Widowmaker

"Fate has found its hero."

2002 2h 18m EN

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6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 1,246

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Synopsis

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When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

“Fate has found its hero.”

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Cast

Harrison Ford
Alexei Vostrikov
Liam Neeson
Mikhail Polenin
Peter Sarsgaard
Vadim Radtchinko
Joss Ackland
Marshal Zelentsov
John Shrapnel
Admiral Bratyeev
Donald Sumpter
Dr. Savran
Tim Woodward
Partonov
Steve Nicolson
Demichev

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writers: Louis Nowra, Christopher Kyle
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 66% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 5 countries: Canada, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, shot by Jeff Cronenweth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Klaus Badelt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Walter Murch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and Peter Sarsgaard carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kathryn Bigelow directs. Jeff Cronenweth behind the camera. Klaus Badelt scores. Walter Murch cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Canada, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Earned back only 66% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released 24 years ago.
4International production across 5 countries: Canada, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, shot by Jeff Cronenweth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Klaus Badelt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Walter Murch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and Peter Sarsgaard carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Fate has found its hero.".
10IMDB entry: tt0267626 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 9 themes, including "submarine", "cold war", "soviet union", "based on true story".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jeff Cronenweth
Original score: Klaus Badelt
Editing: Walter Murch
Production design: Karl Júlíusson
Costume design: Marit Allen
Makeup / hair: Jordan Samuel
Stunt coordinator: Mickey Giacomazzi
Runtime: 138 min · 2h 18m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $100,000,000
Box office: $65,700,000
Return: 66% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

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Kathryn Bigelow

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What people are saying

tmdb280390232022-08-27
★ 6/10
K-19: The Widowmaker is the Russian answer to Run Silent, Run Deep/Crimson Tide, except that it's about as Russian as Michael Apted’s Gorky Park – still, not bad company to be in at all. Like Gorky Park, which had two late greats in Will Hurt and Brian Dennehy, K-19 gravitates around two solid performers: Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson in the Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster/Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington roles from RS, RD and Crimson Tide, respectively (also like Gorky Park, there is no trace of Russian other than what can be read here and there; the fact that everyone here speaks the same language all the time, even if it’s that which would be anathema to them, allows us to suspend our disbelief and pretend they’re all speaking Russian to each other). Actually, there is a third, just as important, performance: the titular submarine emerges (and submerges) as a character in its own right; the problem is that it doesn’t do its own stunts. While it’s still in dock, it’s easy to believe in the boat’s reality and all that it entails; once it goes underwater, however, it also goes belly up. Like the Tom Hanks vehicle Greyhound from a couple of years ago, K-19 is at its best when the action stays in the vessel – and for a film where there are a lot of drills, this one is packed with tension and suspense. The ‘exterior’ shots, on the other hand, makes us long for the claustrophobia of the sub’s narrow walkways. The worst offender is the scene in which Ford orders a very dangerous maneuver (and that’s saying something, seeing how Neeson keeps “recommending” him that they remain “at safe depth”) that culminates in the K-19 bursting through the Arctic pack ice. This sequence reminded me, believe it or not, of The Silence of the Lambs; specifically, the part with the crosscutting (you know the one I mean). In that movie, parallel editing led us to believe that two separate events were closely related; in K-19, though, we have the opposite: two closely related events – the sub breaking trough the ice and the crew holding on for dear life – give the impression of occurring worlds apart from each other, because while the people come across as real human beings, the ice and the sub suffer from a pervading Saturday Morning Cartoon quality; i.e., they are shoddy as all hell. All things considered, this is nonetheless a minor yet not altogether unsuccessful incursion from director Kathryn Bigelow on the kind of usually testosterone-laden genre that even on an off day she does better than many a male filmmaker.
CinemaSerf2023-09-03
★ 6/10
A rather clunky cold-war maritime thriller that manages to mix plausible science with shallow propaganda in a rather cack-handed fashion - and a (mis)casting that gives the film the same sinking feeling that the submarine must have felt when it first put to sea. It's a synch that the 2-kopeck systems aboard this state of the art Russian boat "K-19" are going to cause the maiden voyage to be riddled with dangers, and Captain Harrison Ford who blindly believes that nothing can possibly go wrong both before and after the boat sets sail leads to loads of crew resentment - not least from Executive Officer Liam Neeson - who all see him as a sort of "Captain Bligh" figure. Technically, the film does evoke a genuine sense of peril and claustrophobia, but the stars don't really have enough to work with beyond their very two-dimensional characterisations and the sight of John Shrapnel (whose son Lex also features) as a Soviet Admiral is verging on the risible. It has moments of pace, and jeopardy - but they are few and far between and more than nullified by the rather dodgy CGI and really pedestrian script.