A palapable sense of doom hangs over the "K-19," the Soviet Union's top-of-the-line submarine and flagship of the fleet. Mysterious accidents and deaths surround the sub's construction and launch, and its crew is an odd mix of old hands and academy-fresh cadets.

It's 1961, and with Cold War tensions at their peak, Soviet officials are confident a test missile launch in the north Atlantic, monitored by American spy planes, will make sure the Americans know the Russian fleet is a force to be reckoned with. But even as the sub pulls away from harbor and sailors kiss their loved ones goodbye, the voyage's outcome is never in question: the crew has nicknamed it "The Widowmaker," and circumstances make sure it will oblige.

Harrison Ford is Vostrikov, a celebrated commander whose father was both hailed as a patriot and imprisoned as a traitor. Atoning for his father's sins, Vostrikov has cultivated a reputation as a stern, rigorous captain -- unlike the man he has replaced, Captain Polenin (Liam Neeson), a figure beloved by the crew but demoted to Votrikov's lesser.

Votrikov, faced with a resentful and unpolished crew, runs his men through drill after endless drill, keeping the men under his thumb and even endangering their lives in his zeal to make worthy seamen of his crew. Though the test goes off without a hitch, the crew's joy is short lived as they face potential disaster -- a leak in the coolant system of the sub's nuclear engine. Vostrikov is faced with the dilemma of saving his men by surrendering to the Americans or protecting Russia's secrets from the enemy.

Based on a true story, "K-19" grounds itself in an Atomic Age disaster story and in the strained relationship of two men of will caught in unwinnable circumstances. Neeson is typically good, and yes, Ford's Russian accent is horrendous, seeming to come and go from syllable to syllable, but he would likely be criticzed just as soundly if he had attempted no accent at all.

The core of "K-19" doesn't come from Ford's stony expressions or the war movie cliches (it isn't hard to predict the fate of the Just-Engaged Guy, or the Quiet Religious Guy), but from the basic horror of a situation where the only thing more absurd than dying for no reason is dying for a bad reason. Wisely avoiding the jingoistic tone of other military-themed films, both America and the Soviet Union are portrayed as hypocritical paranoids. The basic conflict boils down to duty versus humanity, and where one obligation ends and the next begins.

Director Kathryn Bigelow, who peaked with "Near Dark" and has been stuck with stuff like "Strange Days" in recent years, manages to gloss over the more warmed-over plot elements inherited from other submarine melodramas while emphasizing the gravity of the situation when it counts -- there's something compellingly sad in watching Votrikov's crewmen knowingly expose themselves to a lethal dose of radiation as they try to fix the reactor in an attempt to save their comrades' lives.

Moments like that save "K-19" from its own clumsy dialogue and occasional awkward beats, making it at least a cut above an anonymous war movie.

"K-19: The Widowmaker" is now showing at theaters everywhere.