Ripped from the recently-released pages of history, “K-19: The Widowmaker” attempts to follow in the footsteps of its Silent Service predecessors “Hunt for the Red October,” “Crimson Tide” and the historically inaccurate “U-571.” Although definitely more factually accurate, “K-19” lacks the energy and suspense that barely made “U-571” worth watching.

Living up to its moniker, the ill-fated submarine and its crew are plagued with a number of accidents and setbacks during the construction of the Soviet Navy’s flagship.

It’s these setbacks that lead to the demotion of Captain Polenin, played by Liam Neeson and the assignment of the new iron-willed, by-the-book Captain Vostrikov, played by an out-of-character Harrison Ford. The tension between the two is almost immediate and the crew favors their former captain who will still remain on board acting as the executive officer.

Vostrikov’s addition to the crew does nothing to break the curse of K-19; in fact, it seems to add to the already superstitious atmosphere of the ship.

Meeting the deadline for launch, Vostrikov delivers a commanding speech about the sub and the duty of the crew to the Soviet Navy and the people of Russia – a speech which leads to the christening of the sub and an unbroken champagne bottle – D’oh.

Once out to sea, the captain relentlessly drills and tests his crew until exhaustion racking up injuries and attitudes along the way.

But the good captain, while gruff and demanding, seems to gain the respect and admiration of his crew after a successful test launch of a missile at the Arctic Circle.

Unfortunately, this admiration is short-lived.

After the test, the K-19 receives new orders to proceed to the eastern seaboard of the United States to prepare for the possibility of a nuclear attack. En route to the United States, the sub’s reactor’s cooling system springs a leak, leading to a possible meltdown and theoretically the start of World War III.

The rest of the movie then focuses on the crew’s attempts to repair the reactor while struggling to figure out who should command K-19.

One would think the movie may be able to stand on the credibility of its stars, both of which have proven their presence and depth time and again with numerous Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. But the acting – on the part of both stars – was mediocre at best.

This problem may have stemmed from a supporting cast of unknowns or possibly a lack of on-screen chemistry between the two stars.

And at times, the interaction between the stars reminded me more of Han Solo meeting Qui-gon Jinn for the first time arguing about the value of the Force.

So with two strikes already – an only moderately interesting story and half-hearted acting – the remaining hope for success lands squarely on the shoulders of the director.

Strike three, you’re out!

Katherine Bigelow’s submarine epic falls dramatically short of her highly-touted past efforts such as “Near Dark” and “Strange Days.”

Lauded as a visually cinematic pioneer, Bigelow nails the cinematography and visual presence of K-19, but seems torn between loyalty, in sticking to history, and injecting melodrama into the content of the story.

Sadly, by the time she made up her mind to do a little “injecting,” the audience had already had to sit through too many dead spots in the movie.

Sorry Kathy, too little, too late.

Bigelow should stay away from anything factual and stick to what she knows best, visual storytelling – not visual story-retelling.

While technically a well researched and visually accurate project, “K-19” suffers from the same challenges any “based on actual events” motion picture encounters.

From “U-571” to “Ali,” filmmakers historically have to make the decision to honor the actual events or take a certain amount of creative license with their projects.

Unfortunately, life very rarely imitates art, so when a filmmaker takes an actual event and plugs it into an artistic medium, the end result usually leaves something to be desired.

“K-19” would have been more suited to a Learning Channel or Discovery documentary than the two-and-a-half hour boat ride without Kathy Lee it became.