U-571

I saw this film on BBC TV tonight. Let's start by saying as a historical document it sucks - everyone knows that it was a British crew that found the naval Enigma machine and code books, fact. However, the second world war did happen and submarines sank ships. The film was quite well made and fairly well acted but the story should be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. Robin Hood, Men in Tights was more historically accurate. There have been many submarine films including the superb German made "Das Boot" and an old British black and white film made on a shoestring budget - "Morning Departure" - based on the true story the sinking of HMS Truculent and the attempts made to rescue her trapped crew.

As far as thrillers go, U-571 is a well made film. Although it's historical inaccuracies are awful, it still serves as a great theater experience. It won a well deserved Oscar for it's sound, which, in the right theater, makes the film well worth the admission. Sound is the key essential to U-571.

The characters are simple, the plot is simple, and the film probably won't haunt you long after you've seen it, but that's OK. Just sit back and enjoy the claustrophobic sets, the deafening sound effects, and the non-stop action for what it's worth.

I sometimes am lucky in matching my film experience to the audience I share it with, and this was such a case. I live near Norfolk, the world's largest collection of Navy people, and the heaviest concentration of US WWII submariners.

I saw this on opening day, the heavy show (7:30) with the audience packed with young and old Navy. And I have to say, the film didn't work. The models were good, the explosions and all the underwater work nicely done. The boat, at least the US boat, was accurate, and the local paper reports that folks here helped with the specifications.

But these actors didn't seem like sailors, never remotely, and the mismatch was pretty obvious in that audience. Maybe Keitel could pull off a chief with better direction, but not here. And McConaughey and Bon Jovi could never reach believability. Submariners are clubby, superstitious and smelly. Submarines, especially the old boats, are confining. Das Boot gave us a feel for the closeness and the terror, and the high mental level of underwater warfare. This movie misses. It takes more than shaking the camera.

I have some familiarity with the crypto world. That dimension is spooky and could have been woven into the story to better effect. Instead we have a simple grab for an object. You may want to see this for the underwater effects, but otherwise, it is a miss.

First, don't call me crazy for the 7/10 rating. I over-rated this movie a bit, I figure I enjoyed it enough from a screenplay and acting prospective to give it only 4. I kept waiting for Bon Jovi to break out in song! However, I like Matthew M. and Harvey K. a lot (Bill P. not so much) and I thought in my mind they propelled (mind the pun) movie a bit for me. Also, my opinions on a film are based on the complete experience - story. screenplay, acting, effects, sound, etc. I find the soundtrack was great and so were the sets, camera angles etc. This created an enjoyable experience in my opinion. It's funny to observe, but if you read ratings on this title from home theater buffs - everybody thinks this is a great movie. But critics such as those on this site hate it. I'd like to think I appreciate films from all sides, therefore my 7/10 score.

U-571 is an action film with quite a budget for the time. It is not a history war action film, although, in the end, they do a fast scroll of historical facts for some reason.

The film is not very accurate with its facts, and I'm not talking about the specifics of submarines or naval battles, uniforms, or something like this but rather general believability. Some of the things we see feel very unrealistic and more Hollywood-like.

The film has an all-star cast, but there are no good characters for the actors to work with. Most of them are very generic, while some are downright ignorant and unresponsible. They build up a lot of general patriotic stereotypes, but these just don't contribute to a good film in my opinion.

This film was clearly inspired by THE BEST submarine film ever made - Das Boot, it has some of the similar scenes, music choices, and more. What it doesn't have though are believable characters. We have just plain basic good guys and the bad guys. One side is pure evil, the other is just good in every aspect. I thought that they would do something interesting with the German captain, but they never did, he's just evil. I thought there will be some internal drama written for Matthew McConaughey, but there really isn't. His character just spills out very basic cliche inspirational speeches and that's it. Nobody on the boat acts like a real human being.

While it had some good tense action scenes... there's nothing in the film besides that. Just lots of cliches, general stereotypes, sugary patriotism, and historical revisionism.