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Corporal Hicks checks out Kathryn Bigelow's K-19 with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... I love Submarine movies... My uncle has been a Submariner for most of my life and he's always called up and talked to me about 'the latest' sub flick and we talk about the realism or lack there of. Currently he's in charge of a bunch of subs and takes them out to make sure everything is tip top. He knows everything about submarines and sub history... I can not wait to see this film and hear what he thinks. On another level, this is a great film for Harrison Ford and from the sound of it he raised his game to the right level.... And it seems that Kathryn Bigelow has done a great job as well. I can't wait to check it out! Here's Hicks review which has got me jazzed... here ya go!
Hey guys,
Hicks here.
Last night I jumped at the opportunity to head in the dropship to Manhattan
Beach and take a WAY advance look at Kathryn Bigelow's new sub movie, K-19:
The Widowmaker (yikes, that subtitle!--more on that later), starring Han
Solo and Qui-Gon. I say WAY advance because that's simply what it is: a
serious work-in-progress. The movie is not set for release for quite some
time; this is the first time an American audience (or any audience for that
matter) has seen it. Lots of color correction and sound mixing needed, as
well as an original score (we heard temp cues from Gladiator, Thin Red Line,
Crimson Tide, etc...) and ALL of the computer-generated effects are still at
relatively early animation stages (but will look SOOOOO cool when they're
done).
The film is "based on a true story" about the title Russian submarine and
how on its maiden voyage in 1961 it encounters more crises than ever thought
possible. Harrison Ford plays the sub's new captain, a man who is looked
down upon by his colleagues and believed to have achieved his rank simply by
marrying an admiral's niece. Ford's character is out to prove he can run a
sub right alongside the best skippers in the Russian Navy. His nemesis:
Liam Neeson. Neeson plays the initial K-19 captain who is demoted to
executive officer to make room for the new captain. Neeson is very much the
crew's captain, a man who is in touch with the feelings of his shipmates.
Neeson and crew spend most of the film clashing with the new captain over
various sub-movie-cliches (running drills at inappropriate times! fires in
the galley! core meltdowns! radiation leakage! mutiny! etc...). The ship
was built as a retaliation to the U.S. nuclear submarine and has orders to
travel to the eastern seaboard and conduct missile drills on Washington and
New York. What makes everything so difficult for the crew is how untested
the sub is and how it was truly unfit to leave port so early. Thus, a whole
lotta bad things start happening (aforementioned sub-movie-cliches).
The film obviously has quite a lot in common with DAS BOOT, HUNT FOR RED
OCTOBER, CRIMSON TIDE, and U-571 (et al). That's the problem with the
movie. The submarine genre doesn't have too many unchartered regions to
pursue. Not too much new ground covered. We simply get a more graphic
version of why it pretty much sucks to join the Navy. Having said that,
however, this is one of the most well-made sub movies of it's kind.
Direction: Kathryn Bigelow has been trying (it appears, at least) to shake
the POINT BREAK/NEAR DARK solid action/adventure flick for something deeper
in all of her films in the last 6 years (starting with STRANGE DAYS and last
year with WEIGHT OF WATER). She does it well here, but you simply cannot
escape the sub genre without floundering to cliche; it's impossible. DAS
BOOT set the standard. Nonetheless, Bigelow provides us with some truly
interesting compositions and flat-out crazy camera moves (lots of long
takes, serious claustrophobia--more so than the average sub movie). All of
the CG submarine effects that aren't yet finished show incredible promise
with frames that you don't normally see in sub movies. Her movies are
INTENSE, even POINT BREAK in all it's unintended hilarity is a really
intense, exciting movie. It just goes to show you that Bigelow is a very
talented woman capable of doing what only a few men directors can hope to
achieve. Side note: STRANGE DAYS needs to be viewed by everyone, regardless
if they like it or not--it's too interesting to pass up.
Script: Chris Kyle and Louis Nowra. It's a sub movie; it's all technical
nonsense.
Cinematography: Fight Club's Jeff Cronenweth. Looks as good as the best of
the sub flicks. Lots of great grays and blues. Oftentimes a very grainy
image.
Editing: Walter Murch...enough said. The best of the best. Incredibly
well-paced for 2-hour-plus flick (came in around 2:20 I think). As tense as
they come; one of the MOST suspenseful of sub movies.
Cast:
Harrison Ford: Playing against type as a rather unsympathetic character for
the most part of the movie. Looks to me as if someone's trying to win him
an Oscar (seriously). He's very good in this, but I find it difficult to say
this performance is one that will get him the critical notice this time
around. (But it sure beats the hell out of RANDOM HEARTS and WHAT LIES
BENEATH). He shows more range than we normally see from him; I was very
impressed. I've been saying for the past few years that Harrison Ford's day
has passed; however, this movie seems to prove he has a bit left in him,
which does indeed bring a smile to my face.
Liam Neeson: He's the best. I'll go see anything with him in it (yes, even
GUN SHY). He has more charisma in his fingertips than any of the younger
generation actors will ever have in their whole body. He makes it look like
he's improvising, like he's real. His sub captain/executive officer comes
from the same Denzel Washington school of "crew first, mission second"
sub-commanding, but Neeson is just so damn good that it's easy to overlook
the cliche of the character.
Peter Sarsgaard (BOYS DON'T CRY): He plays the token "new lieutenant who was
first in his class at the academy but hasn't been tested yet in the
water"...and we all know what happens to those guys. Regardless, he's
pretty good; he plays the part without too much weakness (as to no longer be
believed as a navy officer), but with the right amount of angst.
There's not much to be said for the rest of the cast. They're all very
good, but, once again, they're in a submarine movie; thus, not a whole lotta
range for character.
K-19 is a very taut, suspenseful sub drama (that's the best tagline
description I could think of--though I'm sure there are better ones). It's
really tough to sit through at points because it's just so unbelievably
claustraphobic (guys run into things left and right) and uncomfortable
(radiation burns--YIKES THAT SUCKS). However, we're looking at some very
fine work from all parties involved.
K-19 is a very good movie, though not a great one (for me, at least). I
have found it impossible to overcome the aforementioned cliches of the
sub-movie-genre and therein lies the deficiency. Keep in mind the movie is
a long way from release, so things could very well change.
That's all for now. I get to take a look at SPY GAME early next week.
Also, I checked out LIFE AS A HOUSE a couple weeks ago but was too lazy to
write a review...mighty fine movie, go check it out this weekend along with
DONNIE DARKO (the best thing I saw at Sundance this year).
Hicks out.
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Bitches.
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..it`s about time to see Ford in an above-average movie. And Kathryn "BOOM BOOM" Bigelow simpy rocks!!!
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..it`s about time to see Ford in an above-average movie again. And Kathryn "BOOM BOOM" Bigelow simpy rocks!!!
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Let me just say this - if the movie was so good, direction, acting, cinematography... then it all comes back to the fact that it was based on a script good enough to attract Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, and was strong enough to hold your attention. Saying it's simply techinical nonsense is a disservice to the writers, and in my mind, an ignorant opinion.
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Hola kids...This is certainly an intriguing film. Surprised they gave it Bigelow. I think she is a solid director and manages to inject intelligence into most of her work. However, I will be surprised if she has that "great" movie in her. Still, that's a hell of a cast. Remember when Ford wanted to ACT? He is a very good actor always and possesses the greatest star power this side of Bogie. You don't make 20 mil a pic if you are bad actor. But his choices have been shockingly bad since oh, I don't know, Clear and Present Danger (with the exception of Beneath which I thought was a smart move. But it wasn't really his movie). This seems like a step in the right direction. He IS Oscar material but he needs a truely great role and he seems terrified of anything but popcorn fare. And also, he is (hopefully was) going through that weird midlife crisis fight to stay a romantic lead. I hope he finds a gifted director like Scorsese or Soderbergh and stars in one last truely great role. Liam Neeson I'm sure will whup ass, as always. Still, a sub movie *yawn* usually far from wonderful genre, Das Boot excepted. And I agree with the reviewer that for the most part, most of them hit the same beats. Certainly looks like this one will.
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The most realistic shoot-out there's ever been on TV was this episode where a perp gets hold of a Glock some careless cop left in his unlocked desk drawer and shoots up the squadroom before getting his ticket punched. Then an eerie music montage of the aftermath set to the Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me." She also directed the best segment of "Wild Palms," the ep that climaxed with a shootout set to the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun." "Before Dark" is enjoyable. That said, the rest of Ms. Bigelow's work is pretty weak, including "Strange Days." I caught it on HBO and boy was I glad I didn't pay to see it in a theatre. (No arguments Corporal Hicks -- I outrank you.) "Blue Steel" is pure shit. "Point Break" is pretty bad, too, but cheesy fun. (Check out Michael Mann's "Heat" to see how a bank heist really goes down.)
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I fucking loved HOMICIDE, especially the episode where Michelle Forbes tells the story of the guy jumping off the building and getting shot on the way down, a good 2-3 years before it showed up in MAGNOLIA. I haven't seen the WILD PALMS episode but I HAVE to now - THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SON is one of the most hypnotic and disturbing songs ever written. I just salivate at the thought of a Bigelow-directed massacre set to this amazing song.
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Is this a remake of that jim belushi flick
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Is this a remake of that jim belushi flick
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