Hey folks, Harry here... I love Submarine movies... My uncle has been a Submariner for most of my life and he's always called up and talked to me about 'the latest' sub flick and we talk about the realism or lack there of. Currently he's in charge of a bunch of subs and takes them out to make sure everything is tip top. He knows everything about submarines and sub history... I can not wait to see this film and hear what he thinks. On another level, this is a great film for Harrison Ford and from the sound of it he raised his game to the right level.... And it seems that Kathryn Bigelow has done a great job as well. I can't wait to check it out! Here's Hicks review which has got me jazzed... here ya go!
Hey guys,
Hicks here.
Last night I jumped at the opportunity to head in the dropship to Manhattan Beach and take a WAY advance look at Kathryn Bigelow's new sub movie, K-19: The Widowmaker (yikes, that subtitle!--more on that later), starring Han Solo and Qui-Gon. I say WAY advance because that's simply what it is: a serious work-in-progress. The movie is not set for release for quite some time; this is the first time an American audience (or any audience for that matter) has seen it. Lots of color correction and sound mixing needed, as well as an original score (we heard temp cues from Gladiator, Thin Red Line, Crimson Tide, etc...) and ALL of the computer-generated effects are still at relatively early animation stages (but will look SOOOOO cool when they're done).
The film is "based on a true story" about the title Russian submarine and how on its maiden voyage in 1961 it encounters more crises than ever thought possible. Harrison Ford plays the sub's new captain, a man who is looked down upon by his colleagues and believed to have achieved his rank simply by marrying an admiral's niece. Ford's character is out to prove he can run a sub right alongside the best skippers in the Russian Navy. His nemesis: Liam Neeson. Neeson plays the initial K-19 captain who is demoted to executive officer to make room for the new captain. Neeson is very much the crew's captain, a man who is in touch with the feelings of his shipmates. Neeson and crew spend most of the film clashing with the new captain over various sub-movie-cliches (running drills at inappropriate times! fires in the galley! core meltdowns! radiation leakage! mutiny! etc...). The ship was built as a retaliation to the U.S. nuclear submarine and has orders to travel to the eastern seaboard and conduct missile drills on Washington and New York. What makes everything so difficult for the crew is how untested the sub is and how it was truly unfit to leave port so early. Thus, a whole lotta bad things start happening (aforementioned sub-movie-cliches).
The film obviously has quite a lot in common with DAS BOOT, HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, CRIMSON TIDE, and U-571 (et al). That's the problem with the movie. The submarine genre doesn't have too many unchartered regions to pursue. Not too much new ground covered. We simply get a more graphic version of why it pretty much sucks to join the Navy. Having said that, however, this is one of the most well-made sub movies of it's kind.
Direction: Kathryn Bigelow has been trying (it appears, at least) to shake the POINT BREAK/NEAR DARK solid action/adventure flick for something deeper in all of her films in the last 6 years (starting with STRANGE DAYS and last year with WEIGHT OF WATER). She does it well here, but you simply cannot escape the sub genre without floundering to cliche; it's impossible. DAS BOOT set the standard. Nonetheless, Bigelow provides us with some truly interesting compositions and flat-out crazy camera moves (lots of long takes, serious claustrophobia--more so than the average sub movie). All of the CG submarine effects that aren't yet finished show incredible promise with frames that you don't normally see in sub movies. Her movies are INTENSE, even POINT BREAK in all it's unintended hilarity is a really intense, exciting movie. It just goes to show you that Bigelow is a very talented woman capable of doing what only a few men directors can hope to achieve. Side note: STRANGE DAYS needs to be viewed by everyone, regardless if they like it or not--it's too interesting to pass up.
Script: Chris Kyle and Louis Nowra. It's a sub movie; it's all technical nonsense.
Cinematography: Fight Club's Jeff Cronenweth. Looks as good as the best of the sub flicks. Lots of great grays and blues. Oftentimes a very grainy image.
Editing: Walter Murch...enough said. The best of the best. Incredibly well-paced for 2-hour-plus flick (came in around 2:20 I think). As tense as they come; one of the MOST suspenseful of sub movies.
Cast:
Harrison Ford: Playing against type as a rather unsympathetic character for the most part of the movie. Looks to me as if someone's trying to win him an Oscar (seriously). He's very good in this, but I find it difficult to say this performance is one that will get him the critical notice this time around. (But it sure beats the hell out of RANDOM HEARTS and WHAT LIES BENEATH). He shows more range than we normally see from him; I was very impressed. I've been saying for the past few years that Harrison Ford's day has passed; however, this movie seems to prove he has a bit left in him, which does indeed bring a smile to my face.
Liam Neeson: He's the best. I'll go see anything with him in it (yes, even GUN SHY). He has more charisma in his fingertips than any of the younger generation actors will ever have in their whole body. He makes it look like he's improvising, like he's real. His sub captain/executive officer comes from the same Denzel Washington school of "crew first, mission second" sub-commanding, but Neeson is just so damn good that it's easy to overlook the cliche of the character.
Peter Sarsgaard (BOYS DON'T CRY): He plays the token "new lieutenant who was first in his class at the academy but hasn't been tested yet in the water"...and we all know what happens to those guys. Regardless, he's pretty good; he plays the part without too much weakness (as to no longer be believed as a navy officer), but with the right amount of angst.
There's not much to be said for the rest of the cast. They're all very good, but, once again, they're in a submarine movie; thus, not a whole lotta range for character.
K-19 is a very taut, suspenseful sub drama (that's the best tagline description I could think of--though I'm sure there are better ones). It's really tough to sit through at points because it's just so unbelievably claustraphobic (guys run into things left and right) and uncomfortable (radiation burns--YIKES THAT SUCKS). However, we're looking at some very fine work from all parties involved.
K-19 is a very good movie, though not a great one (for me, at least). I have found it impossible to overcome the aforementioned cliches of the sub-movie-genre and therein lies the deficiency. Keep in mind the movie is a long way from release, so things could very well change.
That's all for now. I get to take a look at SPY GAME early next week. Also, I checked out LIFE AS A HOUSE a couple weeks ago but was too lazy to write a review...mighty fine movie, go check it out this weekend along with DONNIE DARKO (the best thing I saw at Sundance this year).
Hicks out.
