Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
One of our long-time chatters and reviewers, Caller From LA, is here with a non-spoiler glimpse at the new Katherine Bigelow film K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER. Harrison Ford and a Russian accent. Liam Neeson. Nuclear sub action. I'll admit it... I'm interested.
Caller... buddy... how was it?
In summary, K-19 is a film that attempts to be part-Apollo 13, part-Braveheart, part-Red October, but ends up with no compelling story or interesting complications in acts 2 and 3. I do not recommend this film, even for a matinee. I can only recommend this film for any ex-Russian submariners.
Story: This film is inspired by the true story of Russia's first nuclear ballistic submarine, which suffered a malfunction in its maiden voyage. From a studio point-of-view, here is the main mistake: I don't think the American audience will have sympathy for this Russian crew, even if it is headed by Han Solo.
Act 1 is damn good - you get a sense of the mammoth size of the submarine, the youthfulness of its crew, the 'two captains' onboard the boat, and some of the political nature of the Cold War. The rest of the film explores bits and pieces of themes.
You want to see better versions of these themes? Men realizing their existence near a hot reactor: see John Cusack in Fat Man and Little Boy. Leadership amongst men: see Apollo 13 and Glory. A submarine thriller: see Hunt for Red October. Now imagine stringing three scenes from each of these films into one, and you've got K-19. K-19 lacks complications and depth. Story by Louis Nowra, screenplay by Christopher Kyle.
Directing: The first 30 minutes are tense, and almost all of the footage is used to propel the plot. Lots of close-ups, a bit of handheld - everything you expect in a sub film. There's only a limited use of CGI due to the lack of action in the plot. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days, Point Break).
Acting: Harrison Ford is no longer an actor; he is a performer. See Harrison Ford as the president. See Harrison Ford as a nuclear submarine captain. Harrison, please return to Regarding Henry-type material. Or, if you want to stay in larger-than-life roles, well, we always look forward to Indy. The combination of a submarine, Harrison Ford, and Joss Ackland (remember Lethal Weapon's 'Diplomatic Immunity' line) combine to give an impression that this is a bad Jack Ryan film.
Liam Neeson has a good, not great performance. Not much of a role here for him to fill out. The rest of the cast is made of young submariners, and they all ended up looking and sounding the same to me...not enough characterization to make them stand out from each other.
Music and Sound: I don't normally mention that score, but the music from Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer fits the mood well, and is interesting by itself. U-571 had much better sound editing, where you felt the ship buckle under the strain amidst silence...K-19 has a quick scene where the ships buckles a bit under pressure, but it sounds like some carnival ride gone bad.
Business: Coming from Paramount and Intermedia in the U.S. on July 19 against Eight Legged Freaks, Halloween: Ressurection, and Stuart Little 2. Go see Eight Legged Freaks instead, it's a much more entertaining B-movie. HSX has this at opening at $24 million, but I think it'll be slightly less unless they advertise the hell out of this mother. In any event, it will drop off quickly after release, mainly because there's a lot of films in the pipeline at that time.
Cheers,
--Caller From L.A.
who only got off his ass to get films reviewed again because he's envious of 'Steve Austin'
I have no idea what 'Steve Austin' saw that pissed Caller off and made him envious, but Steve... thanks.
"Moriarty" out.
