K-19: The Widowmaker
New Films International | Release Date: July 19, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
16
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Impressive and heartfelt. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
(Director Bigelow) piles up one nerve-racking crisis after another, interspersed with moments of ethereal, almost otherworldly beauty. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
May be a bit too grim and claustrophobic to become a certifiable summer blockbuster, but it's a pulse-pounding thriller that brings one of the Cold War's darkest and deadliest episodes to the big screen. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is one surprise in the movie, a decision having nothing to do with the reactor, that depends entirely on the ability of the characters to act convincingly under enormous pressure; casting stars of roughly equal weight helps it to work. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie gradually works its way, with quiet intelligence and apparent conviction, until there's no turning from it. An hour in, and we're on that boat. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Bigelow gives this film edge, tension and something you aren't expecting: a woman's touch for teasing out the buried emotion beneath those stoic surfaces. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
As a grueling "trip" movie and cautionary tale of the nuclear age, K-19 fits the bill. The harsh depiction of everyday life in the Soviet navy and numerous scenes of seamen exposing themselves to lethal doses of radiation are profoundly disturbing. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A relentlessly serious action movie, characterized by, of all things, sorrow. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
I don't think that a woman behind the camera necessarily affects the tenor of what is on screen, but never before have I seen a men-of-war film more notable for its psychology than its spectacle. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
K-19 will not go down in the annals of cinema as one of the great submarine stories, but it is an engaging and exciting narrative of Man confronting the Demons of his own fear and paranoia. Read full review
70
Village VoiceDennis Lim
As square-shouldered as you'd expect of a National Geographic co-production. But Bigelow hits all her marks and more within the narrow parameters. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
As a technical achievement, K-19 is right up there with Das Boot. Don't expect much dramatic depth, though. The fathoms descended in this movie are strictly nautical. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Remains an above-average and affecting descent into both heretofore unknown Soviet naval history and the always popular submarine-in-peril genre. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Despite its exciting moments, the film is too long. Read full review
63
New York PostJonathan Foreman
With uncommon ineptitude even by the standards of contemporary action flicks, Kyle's script submerges the inherently dramatic tale of the K-19 under a pile of clichés, while failing to tell you enough about the characters for their actions to make much sense. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It took guts to bring this story to the screen, but at its core it has the wrong stuff. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The Cold War isn't exactly a hot ticket right now, but K-19 punches up the timeless aspects of the story -- adventure, danger, teamwork, noble self-sacrifice and two forceful actors butting heads, even if you don't buy them as Russian for a moment. Read full review
60
VarietyRobert Koehler
Obediently follows the verities of the submarine movie and its true story origins but without the imagination needed to refresh the genre. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
After spending so much time letting the characters' deeds do the talking, the film veers into overkill, which comes as a letdown. But the actions linger longer than the words. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's a pretty good sub movie, with some pretty good performances, that, alas, somewhat disintegrates in the last half-hour. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
While watchable, skews more toward the drier expectations fostered by that publication's name then the more exciting, explosive ones associated with the genre. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
K-19's determination to push hard for self-congratulatory morals and convenient resolutions undercut the film's strengths and make it more conventional. Read full review
60
Film ThreatDavid Grove
A cold war thriller told from the Russian point of view which gives it the appearance of having more credibility and dark truth than if this were an American story. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Perhaps the post-cold-war attitudes behind this film are progressive, but the same old pre-nuclear-war worship of the military goes all but unchallenged. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
What's really needed is a story with some sizzle, but Bigelow, in K-19, can't seem to decide whether she's making a shoot-the-works underwater rouser, like ''U-571'' or ''Crimson Tide,'' or a lofty historical message movie that hits us with the breaking news that the arms race was, in every sense, a poisonous game. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The movie becomes an American salute to military patriotism, anybody's military patriotism. Think of it as "A Few Good Reds." Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The truly heartbreaking sacrifice of a few extraordinarily heroic men is lost under the ponderous score and a series of even heavier speeches. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Though this saga would be terrific to read about, it is dicey screen material that only a genius should touch. With no genius in sight, K-19 might be headed for meltdown. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The lead actors come from America, Ireland, Iceland, England and South Africa. Who decided they should attempt Russian accents? Neeson forgets his, Ford wavers in and out, and real Russians in the cast make the others sound inauthentic. Read full review
50
New Times (L.A.)Gregory Weinkauf
Of all the A-list men playing dedicated authority figures, Star Wars alums Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson remain among the most amusing and pleasing, which is why K-19: The Widowmaker glides along engagingly rather than sinking.
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Despite drawing from one of the most powerful and true stories from the Cold War, K-19 is only moderately moving. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyJohn Powers
K-19 is so unnervingly square that it seems eerily like Party-sanctioned Soviet filmmaking: Its Motherland-loving sailors, myth-making shots of K-19 and displays of heroism are worthy of the Young Lenin Pioneers' Handbook. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The script doesn't give Bigelow enough human stuff to balance the mechanical. For good or ill, like so many other submarine thrillers before it, K-19 is more about the machine than the men. Read full review
30
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
A long, lumbering brute of a movie, no easier to maneuver than the vessel itself. [29 July 2002, p. 92]
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Rarely has a major motion picture -- and this one is major by virtue of its misplaced ambition as well as its budget -- been afflicted by such flagrant dissonance between subject and style.
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