Rating: Summary: Powerful, Moving Thriller...Highly Recommended Review: My husband and I were both caught up in this movie from the very beginning. Terrific acting, wonderful screenplay, and phenomenal historical accuracy and detail. An incredibly absorbing movie that had us both on the edge of our seats until the final conclusion. We both highly recommend it.
Rating: Summary: Enjoyable movie Review: With the bad reviews I heard, I was definitely expecting a lot worse. While the movie has some weaknesses (like saying the reactor could become a nuclear explosion), I was very moved by the real-life trajedy that the movie portrays. Never mind that they were Russians, this was a group of submariners who endured a horrific malfunction. It's enough to make you swear off nuclear energy for anything. Harrison Ford did a good job -- one has to realize that Russian officers are SUPPOSED to be serious and have no personality. Liam was good, too, although he warms up to his "captain" rather quickly in the end, I thought. The real stars were the largely unknown crew members who you get to know. In the beginning, it's confusion to keep track of them, but in the end you really feel for their plight. I liked this movie better than the action-filled U-571 and the music was great. The "Making of K-19" on the DVD was very interesting. They went to a LOT of expense and trouble to make the filming authentic. ... As a Russian linguist, I enjoyed seeing all the equipment on the ship and buildings in the settings which were labelled in Cyrillic. OK, most people can't read it, so why bother? So I applaud whoever's responsible for that. I think the movie is definitely worth seeing. Russians are people, too.
Rating: Summary: K-19: Almost Good Review: While I enjoy submarine movies, this one was a disappointment. Yes, the actors were excellent, the photography crisp and clear, murky when necessary, and the sound track was moving, the premise of the film was lacking. The historical facts may have been depicted relatively accurately, but the major disappointment for me was the departure from a factual representation when it came to the most easily-discovered facts available; those about the reactor. The threat that a reactor leak would cause a "thermonuclear reaction" is untrue, and was unbelievable coming from a nuclear-educated officer in the Soviet Nuclear Navy. The twisting of the facts to produce a fake crisis was a cheap Hollywood trick and completely unneeded. The drama of the submarine could easily have been captured with the reality that with the reactor down, the crew would die horribly, most likely by being crushed to death, and the Soviet Union would be embarrassed...The nuclear reactor was the problem, but the hype that nuclear war would result was just silly...
Rating: Summary: What an unfortunately-poor movie for everyone involved Review: I am a great fan of both Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford, and was looking forward to watching this movie when it was released on DVD (I missed it in the theaters). Unfortunately, it ended up being a waste of time.The acting was incredibly low quality. Harrison Ford walked around in a stupor for the last half of the movie. His character emoted no emotions, nor did it create any empathy for the situation. Liam Neeson was equally ineffective; at one point he is hating Ford's character, and at the next he is proud to have worked under such an excellent captain. The plot is slow in moving, and had nothing to hold my attention. While it is understandable that a story shouldn't unfold everything in the first five minutes, both my wife and I got bored waiting for the plot to lead to anything of interest. The music is overbearing. I am finding that music is increasingly being forced upon the audience. This is one of those films. Apparently, whoever wrote the score did not have any knowledge of how to build up the suspense via music, nor did they know when NOT to use music. There is music in literally every second of this film, and I find it distracting when a film uses music in passages where there is "nothing to say". The sets were fine (neither good nor bad), the cinematography was so-so, the effects appropriate. Also, since Liam Neeson is as qualified an actor as Harrison Ford, and his part was as big, why did his picture not appear on the poster and box? Finally, this was not really a submarine movie. They could have done the same thing in a movie on Chernobyl. I think I'll watch a real sub movie tonight: Das Boot!
Rating: Summary: Tense drama Review: A Russian submarine captain, played by Liam Neeson, is replaced in his command by Harrison Ford. Neeson is expected to stay on the ship under Ford and he shows his noble side by doing so without complaint. Ford's mission is to take the sub to an Arctic region in order to test a missile which is onboard. He shows a reckless disregard for his crew by pushing his new submarine to the limits and threatening everyone's lives. When a leak in the sub causes radiation to spread, Ford refuses to save his men by appealing to Americans nearby. A mutiny is threatened and the two leaders come face to face in a confrontation. Both Ford and Neeson are very good in their roles and they provide a lot of tension with their opposite views of how the ship should be run. My main objection to the film is the sudden and unexplained change of heart that Ford's character goes through, but all in all, this is a good film.
Rating: Summary: A very Important film to see Review: If you doubt our President and our government for keeping Iraq from having Nukes you need to see this movie.This movie explains loud and clear why some countries should not have nuclear power let alone nuclear weapons. You can see in this movie without the right safty standards you will have a dissaster .The Russians had more than one accident like this . K-19 was small compared to the 1986 dissaster at CHORNOBYL .Eight thousand people died at that accident from radiation sickness when a nuclear reactor blew sky high. It also caused fallout in parts of north and eastern Europe to countries close to Russia. The U.S.A. almost had an accident in 1980 at Three mile Island but the key word is (almost). The United States had the right safty standards. But the real question is "Do you think Saddam will have safe standards?" I doubt it. What do you think?..... Sleep tight
Rating: Summary: Great movie, perhaps not Das Boot, but up there with Crimson Review: I thought that this movie was great and the DVD rocks too!! Has some great behind the scenes stuff with Harrison and Kathryn. Very interesting stuff, regarding the building of the sub, etc. I think that it is on par with Crimson Tide and Hunt For Red October, personally. Das Boot was a classic, hard to compete with that, ... Keep up the great work Harrison and Kathryn!!
Rating: Summary: K-19 Falling Short Review: K-19 had a great plot. Playing the plot was a set of equally great actors. My problem with the movie was how bored I became after an hour. I new exactly what was going to happen. The submaire footage was blane. A great war/submaire movie is The Hunt for Red October not K-19. This review is short and sweet because I have nothing to say about the movie.
Rating: Summary: Frightening Review: I remember the height of the Cold War with its constant fear of atomic attack, the fallout shelters, the "duck and cover" exercises, and the evil Russian monsters that were out to get us. This movie show us the other side of the coin. The Russians were terrified of us and saw the west as sinister plotters out to destroy the Soviet Union. In this tense environment, a new missile armed nuclear sub is rushed into service to balance the newly commissioned American subs. The crew must deal with advanced technologies supplied by an inefficient often incompetent system under the control of the pervasive party system. At the head of the crew is a captain with inflexible party loyalty and a drive to atone for a father who ran afoul of the system. His XO is the displaced previous captain who remains the crew's emotional leader. Disaster seems inevitable. To see the crew struggle to survive is inspiring. The bravery of the men who entered the reator to repair it is the best of courage. They knew they would die, but they still did their duty to the crew, the ship, and their country. This movie deserves better than its mediocre box office. Watch this movie to sense the tension of the Cold War (and hope it never reoccurs) and the best of the human spirit.
Rating: Summary: Das Boot is better Review: As it stands, this movie is not bad. But, if you have ever watched Das Boot, you will probably agree that this movie is two things: 1. Inferior 2. The same thing, more or less. I mean, there are differences, mainly the sub here is nuclear (or nucular in Bush-speak), but there are several things that make this movie inferior: * it came after Das Boot, reflecting Hollywood's lack of creativity. * Harrison Ford's Russian accent [is bad]. * The language is English, whereas my fav. Das Boot release is the original German with subtitles. * The main actors don't even look Russian for the most part. There were certain scenes where I noticed a very obvious duplication of Das Boot scenes. All in all I consider this a waste of money... I should have purchased a Das Boot DVD instead of renting this one.
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