U-571

Well there are maybe worse war films but I don't remember seeing any. The pure inability of the German Kriegsmarine (that's German Navy) to hit anything that is dressed in Stars and Stripes causes nothing but laughing on the faces of the spectators. I wonder if Mr Mostow has ever seen a sub in his life. But I hope that for an US film all is acceptable.

A lot of movies use historical events such as wars or tragedies as backdrops for their movies. "Titanic" for instance was completely untrue for the most part. This movie for some reason had lots of people complaining about how Americans were not the first to find the decoder depicted in the film. So what? Really, some people are just so anal. If England wishes for the true story to be told make a documentary on the subject with their money. This is an action movie made with American dollars, this is not to be confused with fact, seriously did you look up the Titanic's manifest and see if that poor Jack or his love Rose was on it. The decoder was just a way to get some guys on a German U-boat so we could have a pretty good action movie. It was nothing to ponder or for historians to dissect, I mean did we believe that Forrest Gump was real too and that he was a very important person in American History too or what? The main problem I had with this one is that Matthew McConaughey is the lead in this one. I think someone else would have been better, though he was not to bad in this one. Just when I see him I usually think chick flick, though I did like him in "Sahara" too. So a nice action movie, with some good submarine battles, I preferred "The Hunt Red October" and I have heard the German film "Das Boot" is the superior submarine film of all of them, but have never seen that one. Would like to though, until then though I enjoyed this one and I realize the English were the first to find said decoder.

I rented U-571 thinking that a movie with submarines and Harvey Keitel in it would at least be vaguely entertaining, but boy, was I wrong. As for its mindless entertainment value, if you have only ever seen one u - boat movie you will essentially have seen U-571 because it goes to great pains not to miss any cliché in the book; the first third in particular is an almost exact copy of "Das Boot". What really angers me about U-571 though, apart from it being a really bad movie, is the premeditated way it tries to remanufacture history. Without going into details: the actual Enigma machine was relatively well known, the difficult bit was cracking the code -- which was brilliantly accomplished by the British (after some spadework from the Poles). Next there is the cheap attempt to whitewash racial segregation in the US by throwing in a black sailor and then putting the onus on the Germans by showing a German sailor being shocked at seeing a black person -- maybe it was the historical inaccuracy he was astounded by. Even worse, the film promotes an almost fascist type of ideology, namely the leader principle, mindless submission to authority, the objective must be achieved regardless of the cost of human life (enemy or comrade). So ironically, U-571, with reversed sides and minus the special effects, could pass for a German propaganda movie of that era.

This is yet another epic film about heroic Americans stepping into a situation, destroying everything, and creating an unhealthy and polarized sense of morality (the good Americans kill the evil Germans). You could label this film racist... perhaps acceptable when the propaganda was necessary (in the 40's), but certainly not 50 years after the fact. The film also fails to capture a good sense of life in one of these submarines... since the film concentrates on military glory and good triumphing over evil, the potentially powerful, subtler moments of suspense are hopelessly lost, and the film degenerates into a muffled confusion of trumpets and excessively justified violence. It is impossible to watch this without thinking of Das Boot, and how much more powerful the cinematography and directing are, not to mention how much more tolerant and accurate a picture it paints of the morality of warfare and of Germans as real people during the war. My rating is 2/10 on this film, because it has wasted a potentially powerful concept on mindless and destructive entertainment, questioned Germans as human beings, took millions of dollars to do it, and is essentially a cultural regression from its ancestor Das Boot, made 20 years prior.

This movie is another one in a long line of pro-U.S. war films. You know the kind. Those are the films where north american soldiers are the only ones capable of any wit, wisdom, intelligence and courage. Unfortunately, by now the rest of the world is a bit brighter, and we know that, really, Ben Affleck didn't save Great Britain from the Germans. There is an undeniable and deep love and respect for all veterans and U.S. soldiers that lost their lives in Europe during both World Wars from the rest of the world, the kind of respect that only comes from defending an ideal with their lives. It's Hollywood who is keen on destroying those heroes' reputation by making them seem so superior as to be ridiculous. In summary, this film is a parody of the amazing "Das Boot". It's quite obvious that the same things will happen in any submarine: depth charges, marine battles, etc. But U-571 makes everything seem sweet: there is no claustrophobia, the crew gets along pretty well, they kill every german in sight, and even a destroyer. Das Boot shows a destroyed boat, terribly strained relationships, a sense of quiet desperation and resignation. Where U-571 plays glorious fanfare, Das Boot counters with powerful silence. Where Das Boot puts grime, U-571 substitutes pretty faces. Where Das Boot has realism, U-571 doesn't. But most insulting of all, where englishmen should have been, U-571 cleverly substitutes them with U.S. soldiers. Oh, the nerve. Bottom line: this movie makes for a great surround sound demo disc, or a nice coaster. Hollywood is still clueless when it comes to making war movies. If a future historian only had U.S. war movies to base history upon, he would decidedly declare the rest of the world sub-human idiots, and the U.S. civilization as a more evolved race. A theory Hollywood debunks quite nicely.

source: U-571

Moviecut—U-571

With all of the new advances in sound and visual technology, there was ample scope for a truly authentic, modern American re-make of the classic 'submarine movie' of the 1950's and 60's. And heaven knows, it doesn't require much study to realise that Yank submariners played a huge part in the war. The Pacific war, that is - not the Atlantic. There were some tremendous daring-do escapades with memorable victories. In fact, I understand that the American fleet was the most successful submarine fleet of the war, with also fewer casualties per unit vessel. They accounted for over half of all Japanese maritime losses. Movie-makers don't need to invent heroes and scenarios then; they are already spoilt for choice. So why this? Why a completely fictitious movie not only about an event that didn't happen, but a travesty of true naval history? I believe it is generally agreed that the 'enigma' capture was a British success. The Yanks weren't even there. Moreover when Britain began supplying the USA with intelligence intercepts garnered from its application, they were ignored by their naval high-command, with appalling consequences to coastal shipping. But then, Hollywood's air-brushing out of American mistakes and British successes is almost as inevitable as the type-casting of Germans as dumb, robotic bigots. It's not something to take personally. Though after all this time it does get a bit tiresome. Audio-visually at least the movie was right on the money, especially if you have a decent home cinema. Bangs and clangs come over solid and visceral. There was clever, though rather obvious use of CGI. Little issues of personal tension didn't harm the rather shallow Alistair Mclean style plot and gave a little substance to its equally shallow characters. Unfortunately, all the old clichés were stowed aboard too: conflict between skipper and first officer ('Run Silent Run Deep', 'Up Periscope', 'Crimson Tide'), cat-and-mouse conflict with a destroyer ('The Enemy Below', 'Das Boot'), diving below the vessel's test-depth (Yawn - 'Das Boot', 'The Enemy Below', 'Ice Station Zebra', 'Crimson Tide') and so on. And there simply isn't enough space to enumerate all of the tactical-technical errors that could have been avoided with just a little research. Like so many Hollywood offerings today, - 'Titanic', 'Pearl Harbour', 'Gladiator' - a wonderful opportunity was abandoned in favour of crass spectacle. Instead, we got a movie that shamefully ignored all of the American submariners' sterling accomplishments - true episodes at least as remarkable as those depicted here - in favour of well-engineered, implausible, and frankly misleading pap. Don't worry about snubbing us Brits. We're thick-skinned and used to it. But if I were a Yank instead, I would regard this movie as an act of treason, so shamefully does it disavow their true nautical heroes. It's a pity the director didn't just update 'Torpedo Run'.

I like history. I have a healthy respect for it, and genuine interest in the subject matter. The nauseating way that US film companies like to rewrite it to portray the US have having done everything that evere saved the world, and the jaw dropping way that certain section of the US citizenry lap this rubbish up with a spoon rather than crack a book open and get a good education beggars belief. The US did not get the enigma machine, the British did, and historically speaking, six months before this film is even set. How they did it would have made a genuinely engaging film, and judging by how many American actors long to strut their stuff on the London stage, I'm sure many would have been chomping at the bit to try out their foreign accents. No such luck here. Garbage.

It's 1941. The German U-Boats are wreaking havoc in the North Atlantic, sinking every Allied ship in their path and threatening to cut off the critical supply line from America to Britain that is saving the Allied War Effort. In a Special Operation Mission a US Submarine Crew, headed by Captain Dahlgren (Bill Paxton), are sent to capture the Enigma Code (the German Code that is allowing them to position there submarines without alerting the Allies) which will change the course of the war. The main plot of the movie, thought completely fictional, works well and maintains a viewers interest. However, it is sure to raise a lot of controversial discussion as it was the British and not the Americans who recovered the Enigma Machine in World War II. Unlike standard submarine movies U-571 is full of twists and turns, especially in the first hour. Because of this U-571 is definitely a film that you have to concentrate in otherwise you'll miss a lot of vital information. It is obvious that writer-director Jonathan Mostow has researched U-571 well as the nail-biting tension is ever present in the confines of a cramped submarine with a very stressed crew. Mostow's strongest point in this film would be his directing which keeps any viewer tuned in and on the edge of their seats. The camera work is brilliant and Mostow in several scenes keeps the viewer guessing what will come next in this nail-biting epic. The most notable sequence occurs when a Nazi Destroyer is dropping depth charges to try and kill the US Navy Crew. One second the viewer is watching a depth charge mercilessly head for the submarine and the next moment the viewer is watching the reaction of the Navy Crew. Sequences like this truly bring a realistic touch to the film. The acting is just as brilliant as the directing. This is mostly because the cast were out at sea in a fully working submarine while filming U-571. Actors such as Matthew McConaughey are truly brilliant. Fear and stress is ever present on their faces and highly emotional times come across brilliantly. Other actors such as Harvey Keitel are brilliant but Jon Bon Jovi is the biggest surprise of the film. He does a brilliant job with this film and you're left wondering whether or not that was truly him. My main disappointment in the film was the musical score by Richard Marvin. Don't take that the wrong way, the score was good. However, at times it could have been just that little bit better. There were scenes where the music was raging but dead silence would have had a better effect on the audience. I was also disappointed with the end of the film. As a fan of 1981's Das Boot I don't think the ending of any submarine film could ever be as good. However, that's not to say that the U-571 was bad. All in all U-571 is a brilliant film that is well worth seeing. You'll be left on the edge of your seat as you wonder what is coming next. Twists and turns will at times leave you a tad confused but just add to the emotion that you have for the characters. This is the sort of film you have to truly see in the cinema with surround sound, however, I can imagine that the DVD will be superb! I give it 4/5 stars.