I rented this movie sometime back, and was impressed with the screenplay and cinematography.
The movie is a (supposed) real-life historical incident. ’Supposed’ cos I did find several discrepancies between the actual events and the movie’s depiction of them. My aim in this review is not to discuss the story, so I’ll just paste the movie description from blockbuster below to provide information:
Storyline (from Blockbuster)
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Harrison Ford stars as Captain Alexi Vostrikov, a Russian naval officer who’s being given command of the Soviet Union’s first nuclear submarine, K-19, at the height of the Cold War in 1961. The vessel’s previous commander, Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson) has been demoted to executive officer following a botched test and his outspoken assertions that the flagship is not yet ready for deployment, but he curbs his resentment and resolves to serve his new superior well. Polenin’s concerns are well founded: parts are not yet installed, equipment is missing, and the ship’s doctor is killed in an auto mishap. Political pressure forces Vostrikov to sail his crew into the North Atlantic anyway, for a missile fire test that serves as a warning to the U.S. that its enemy is now its technological equal. The test is a success, but a disastrous leak in the K-19’s reactor cooling system soon threatens to create enough heat to detonate the craft’s nuclear payload -- which would certainly be mistaken for the first salvo in a worldwide atomic exchange and spark the beginning of World War III. With no other option, Vostrikov orders his men to repair the damage in ten-minute shifts, irradiating them hopelessly. The conflict between the seemingly bureaucratic Communist Vostrikov and the more humane Polenin escalates, until a surprising twist reveals where both officers’ loyalties truly lie.
Now for my views : -
The cinematography is simply brilliant. This is Jeff Cronenweth’s third movie and he exceeds his effort in One Hour Photo. It seems that he has been given a lot of freedom and encouragement by the director Kathryn Bigelow. Kathryn herself has a history as a painter and seems to make movies in batches of two (she made 2 in 1995 and 2 in 2002).
The other brilliant aspect is the screenplay. The credit is shared by four persons, chief among them being Christopher Kyle and Chris Kyle (of Apollo13 fame).Incidently, this is the second time that Christopher and Kathryn teamed up together. The dialogues are meaningful and appropriate (which actually is quite important in a low action-oriented movie in which words help set the atmosphere and tone).
Apart from that, the performance, though forceful, was expected of stalwarts like Ford and Neeson. For a number of other supporting crew, this was their first (JJ Field, Lex Schrapnel) or second (Steve Cumyn, George Anton, Christian Camargo) movie, and they did a tremendous job.
It would certainly help to watch the movie objectively and without any prejudice and I am sure the viewer will not be dissapointed.