It's never in danger of sinking

STARRING two of cinema's male heavyweight actors, Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, K-19: The Widowmaker is an efficient thriller set aboard a Soviet submarine at the height of the Cold War.

Based upon the true story of how a disaster aboard the K-19 nuclear submarine in 1961 almost triggered off World War III.

Interestingly, the story is for once told from the Soviet point of view.

Ford plays K-19's tough, ambitious and no-nonsense Captain Vostrikov, who has taken over the submarine's command from the earthy and popular man's man Polenin, played by Neeson.

K-19 is the Soviet nuclear fleet's flagship and on its maiden voyage to the North Atlantic is assigned the task of showing off its firepower to the Americans.

In an era of escalating tension between East and West, American submarines operating in the Baltic had Moscow within their sights, being able to launch a strike with nuclear missiles in minutes.

The Russians sent K-19 into the Atlantic to warn the Americans off any thoughts of a sneak attack. During the voyage Vostrikov proves to be an uncompromising and unpopular skipper pushing his men to the limits of their endurance.

Then disaster strikes when the submarine's nuclear reactor leaks and threatens to condemn the men to a watery grave and the added possibility of being the flash point which could trigger off a nuclear holocaust.

Part disaster movie, part thriller, the film is quite old fashioned in its preoccupation with themes such as the carrying out of one's duty, comradeship and courage.

And for what would essentially be perceived as a stereotypically male film, it is actually directed by a woman (the talented Kathryn Bigelow whose work includes the classic Point Break).

Films set aboard submarines are always constrained by their setting but Ford and Neeson bring a great deal of class to K-19 which, although far from being watertight, is never in danger of sinking without trace.

Mono rating: 6 out of 10

Now showing at the UGC Cinemas in Newport and Cardiff