K-19: The Widowmaker

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

Like the Cuban missile crisis-inspired Thirteen Days this tale of Cold War brinkmanship features a lot of short-haired guys frowning at the prospect of the end of the world.

Only they're scowling in Russian and doing it from somewhere underneath the North Atlantic where their newly launched, nuclear-propelled and -armed submarine has developed enough problems to have them searching the bottom drawer for the warranty.

But because this is the Soviet navy of 1961, it's a case of carry on regardless comrades. Especially when you've got gruff old Captain Alexi Vostrikov - Harrison Ford with an accent as furry as his hat - as your new commanding officer.

He's come in at the last minute on the orders of Moscow, over the head of Captain Mikhail Pilenin - Liam Neeson, whose accent is better and who is tall enough to make a periscope unnecessary.

And so K-19's maiden voyage begins under several clouds as it heads underneath the polar ice cap to test-fire a missile. Tensions begin to simmer quickly under Vostrikov's demand for risky drills, followed by more drills.

There's a power struggle of sorts between the hard taskmaster and Neeson's more humane lieutenant, reminiscent of the superior though fictional sub-flick Crimson Tide.

There's one or two of those scenes where everyone aboard listens anxiously to the creaking hull (or is that the dialogue?) as the sub dives to "crush depth" - reminiscent of most every other submarine movie. Likewise, this comes with more than its fair share of shots of the big black behemoth rumbling past with its screws churning or the camera whizzing through its cramped compartments.

But the enemy is within the sub's untested technology and soon comes the order: would those crew members wishing to be heroes of the Motherland report to the reactor room with your welding torch, oh and bring your own suntan lotion.

Yes, it is a tale of sacrifice and heroism told from a unique perspective for a Hollywood epic and is for the most part intriguing for its depiction of its time and the perspective from the other side of the Iron Curtain.

And it does remind that - hold the phone - the world was lucky to survive the Cold War.

But it's a tale not very well told. It doesn't help that it has a lacklustre central performance - Ford is stiff above and beyond the call of duty - while, other than Neeson, it remains hard to figure who's who among all those worried Soviet frowns.

And towards the end, there's a remarkable shift in the film's central dramatic conflict which only serves to raise suspicions about how it's been portrayed up to that point.

Add a woeful "years later" ending that seems copped from Saving Private Ryan, and this movie with the ungainly name ends up torpedoing itself.

Cast: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Running time: 138 mins

Rating: M

Screening: Village, Hoyts Berkeley cinemas