U-Boat

hello everybody, having read several comments on this movie, I feel like doing the same myself. I didn't expect too much out of it when I took it home to watch it. the story to my mind has a very unique idea as a layer, I liked it very much. still I thought it was a bit much on the cliché-side, but still very good. The acting was quite amazing at times, especially macy and kretschmann did a great job. personally I never liked schweiger that much, but he did a great job on this movie too. some minor roles were quite good i thought, such as rene heger's. what i liked most about the movie were the dialogs between macy and kretschmann, especially towards the end, quite touching i thought. all in all, i think its a movie that is worth watching.

This movie slipped by in the U.S. theaters, with DVD release only, so I found out about it from a U-Boat movie recruit friend. With William H. Macy, Til Schweiger, and Thomas Kretschmann (the latter now well known for his role in "The Pianist" there is no excuse for no release.

The details are well documented in other reviews. I have seen many such films, in German and English. After watching half in English, I purchased a copy in German (well-dubbed). I tend to find such films more convincing (easier to suspend disbelief), although the down side there is seeing American actors speaking perfect German. Well, perhaps there will come a copy someday with appropriate subtitles.

Of course, the film that really shows U-Boat conditions is the film Das Boot. I do not know the budget of this film, but the cramped quarters, filth, and unseemly conditions were not part of the budget.

However, the decision of the Kaleun (Kapitän-Leutnant) Schweiger to take on American prisoners (against Oberkommando des Kriegsmarines orders), deal with the inevitable conflict--American soldiers and sailors were well-indoctrinated to hate Germans--after the certain death of his daughter to Allied bombing is more than touching.

Kretschmann's performance is especially noteworthy. Although he once wanted an American Hollywood acting career, and has most frequently been cast as a German military man, all of these performances have been quite different, a testimony to some real acting skill. He has it in spades. Til Schweiger is, as I have read, a "matinee idol"--he does not have to act.

To war film afficionados, most highly recommended, to those who wish to see some great German actors, also highly recommended, and finally, to fans of William H. Macy, a guaranteed pleasure. There is enough WW2 period ambiance to keep this film in suspense.

His bad acting and dbag personality just tanked this movie for me

The acting's is matched by the mediocre writing at first I thought the movie hadn't been completed, rather unpolished and crudely acted. The commander of the U.S. submarine may have damaged his back while "throwing his chest out" in lieu of acting. Almost every scene is nothing more than a cliche' of all other underwater adventures, after painfully reading and rereading the reviews which seem to be apologies exceeded by previous entries. Why all the fuss and excuses, venturing a guess there is none? Could I find the patience or desire to finish this story having read and watched similar, perhaps the more youthful critics will have the endurance to tolerate these flaws no doubt they may have "hero's" and be more forgiving.

Every movie doesn't have to be academy award material. In fact many if not most movies try to be entertaining with interesting ideas. This is one of those movies. A WWII submarine backdrop that forces an alliances between two fighting sides for mutual survival. Ya, sub experts can pick apart some of the tech and tactics but that's not the point of the movie. It's like going to a stage play and picking apart the stage props as not being realistic. It's not the stage but the story that is interesting in this movie. As the world faces global warming, expensive energy, nuclear issues we all can take a lessen that working together to solve our problems would be far more productive than trying to kill each other (the under lying story of this movie).