U-571. Reviewed by Jan Bednarczuk (bookworm@jetcity.com)
It isn't the most original movie. It doesn't have the most interesting characters. It's been done before, in a multitude of ways.
But I liked it anyway.
The premise of U-571 is a familiar one. A submarine crew gets called out to do An Important Mission, that may Win the War for the United States. (Oh, were there other countries that were in the war on the Allied side, too? No matter, it's irrelevant.) We saw this in Hunt for Red October. We've seen it in countless World War II movies. We even saw it in Crimson Tide, for crying out loud.
So what makes this movie different? Well, the details of the plot are slightly different. This time, the plucky submarine crew is out to capture a coding device from a crippled German submarine. The coding device must be captured at all costs. It is more important than the lives of any of the men on the crew. Also, there is an Executive Officer who was only recently turned down for a captain's position, because his commanding officer felt that he was not ready to order men to their deaths. Hmm. Combine these two plot points, and I'm sure you can see where the movie is heading.
And even as predictable as all of this is, I still liked this movie! It's a great adventure movie, uncluttered by any of the irrelevant crap that so often weighs down otherwise-good adventure movies. There was no romantic interest, pining away at home for her man at sea. There were no unnecessary shots of the commanding forces back on land, planning out what should be done. There was only the submarine, the men, and the enemy, and a fine adventure story tying them all together.
Sure, the character development was crappy, but it was also unimportant. You knew what you had to know about these characters: this man is the crusty drill sergeant, this man is the hothead who's going to screw everything up, this man is the noble and principled commander, and this man is the plucky enlisted man who will do anything for his captain. For this movie, those outlined character sketches were all that were necessary.
I found myself biting my nails during a few key points of this movie. The suspense and drama drew me in, made me want to know what happened next. This is not a movie during which I would have felt comfortable leaving for ten minutes to get popcorn -- not because I would have missed important plot, but because I would have missed the action, and in this movie, the action was what was important. Will they avoid the depth charges? Will the submarine survive at this depth? Will the commanding officer be able to give the command to abandon some of his men? What will happen?
All things considered, I'll give this movie a favorable review. It's not the best movie ever, but it was a fun ride, and that's all I wanted it to be.
Rating: *** (3 stars out of 4)
Jan Bednarczuk bookworm@jetcity.com
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