Monday, November 28, 2005

Movie review - "K19: the Widowmaker" (2004) ** 1/2

The classic case of a film that should have had a smaller budget and more integrity for its story - but instead they cast Harrison Ford and pumped needless millions into it. This is based on a true story which is gripping, but it doesn't make an ideal star vehicle, at least not for Harrison The sub captain is a driven man and Ford isn't that good doing driven, his thing is playing stressed out people caught up in events beyond their control (Indiana Jones, Han Solo, Jack Ryan, the Fugitive - they're all really stressed). 

Having said that it looks fantastic and there are some effective moments, notably when the crew go into a leaky nuclear reactor core. This is amazing stuff. I wish I could read the original Louis Nowra script. (NB A thought - has there even been a film about Russians that has been successful at the US box office apart from Dr Zhivago? Buggered if I can think of one.)

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