Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
All my thoughts on this are elsewhere on the site today, so I’ll just hand the floor over to our man in Chicago, Capone:
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here, with a confession: I was baffled by K-19. No, no, I understood the true-life story of Russia’s first nuclear submarine’s maiden voyage and how its shabby construction nearly caused WWIII. I was baffled that I didn’t like it more. The elements were in place: a strong director (Kathryn Bigelow), a solid cast led by Spielberg and Lucas favorites Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, and a compelling story to be sure. So why did the whole experience leave me feeling so unenthused? Maybe because I’ve seen submarine movies done better, and I find it tough to believe any film will match the terror I felt watching DAS BOOT. Or maybe it was Ford’s lackluster performance as Capt. Alexi Vostrikov, a man not afraid to test the limits of his fragile and decidedly untested sub. Maybe it’s because the stars of this film dictate their own fate, thus there’s no drama about how Ford and Neeson’s characters will fare by the end of this very long film. Maybe its the standard-issue submarine lingo and cliche-ridden military back-and-forth that annoyed me. Neeson's Capt. Mikhail Polenin says at one point, “Captain, I don’t advise taking the boat any deeper.” Ford hisses, “I didn’t ask for your advice!” Please, the bugs in my back yard can write more original dialogue than this.
K-19 looks good, and some of the scenes of the nervous crew listening to their sub creak and moan as it goes far beyond its recommended depth. But we’ve seen this before. Hell, I even though U-571 from a couple years ago did this better. I will admit that the second half of the film intrigued me more than the first, but by the time we reached the back half of this film, it was a tough struggle to regain my interest. The ship’s nuclear reactor essentially springs a leak, threatening to douse the crew with radiation and possibly set off an explosion that would put the Hiroshima blast to shame. It doesn’t help that the sub is being watched by a U.S. Navy battleship and is positioned very close to an NATO island base. If the sub explodes, it could be construed as a first strike and send the superpowers slinging nukes at each other. Did I mention that the film was set during the height of the Cold War in 1961? Liam Nesson does a far more credible job as the sub’s first captain who was displaced by Ford. Polenin is the crew’s choice and this issue comes into play, but you probably already figured that out. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a true story because so much of it feel phony and staged. Ford has tried hard lately to show he can play tough (as he did in WHAT LIES BENEATH), but we know he’s a pussy cat underneath and eventually the rough and rugged Vostrikov becomes much-loved by his crew. Big shock!
K-19 failed to pull me in; that’s the bottom line. I liked the performances by the largely unknown group of actors playing the crew, but again there are so many of them that we have to remember who they are by making each one a wartime stereotype: the guy who’s going to get married, the scared kid, the coward, the dorky political officer, blah blah blah. If you’ve never seen a submarine movie before, maybe you’ll dig K-19. I was made bored and sleepy by it. Hope I didn’t snore.
Capone
Email:Don’t argue with me! I am an expert on all things long, hard, and full of seamen!!
