U-571 (director/writer: Jonathan Mostow; screenwriters: Sean Montgomery/David Ayer; cinematographer: Oliver Wood; editor: Wayne Wahrman; cast: Matthew McConaughey (Lt. Andrew Tyler), Bill Paxton (Captain Dahlgren), Harvey Keitel (Chief Klough), Jake Weber (Lt. Hirsch), Jon Bon Jovi (Lt. Pete Emmett), David Keith (Marine Major Coonan), Erik Palladino (Mazzola), T.C. Carson (Eddie), Jack Noseworthy (Wentz), Thomas Guiry (Trigger), Thomas Kretschmann (Wassner), Matthew Settle (Larson), Dave Power (Tank), Will Estes (Rabbit), Derk Cheetwood (Griggs), 2000)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An old-fashioned WW11 submarine movie made for men, featuring an all-male cast, played with a square jawed military call for patriotism. There are no jokes here, even though it could have used some to lighten its torpedo load. Every move made in this film is seemingly life threatening, whether on a personal basis or because of the action scenes. But, aside from being as sober-minded as some of the classical films of this genre-- such as Run Silent, Run Deep, this is no Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (81), the only excellent submarine film ever made thus far, but it is as thrilling and as contrived as the recent, big-budgeted Crimson Tide. This makes for a fairly entertaining but vacuous film, whose entertainment value, I estimate, to be in the middle-range of this genre. If you get your sea legs under you and don't mind the film's history being blurred and its insistence on making heroes out of the men at all costs, then you should find it viscerally challenging and not be underwhelmed by its clichés and its technical inaccuracies, as noted by other observers with far greater submarine technical knowledge than I have, who point out for example: You can't start a diesel engine in a submerged submarine.
The film is set in the spring of 1942, when German U-boats in the North Atlantic and along the East Coast of the U.S., were targeting allied shipping. An allied vessel is downed by the Germans as the film opens, with the bad guys, the Germans, at first exhilarated by their hit but then taken aback when attacked by the depth charges hitting their boat, causing severe damage. English subtitles appear for the first ten minutes or so, as the Germans in distress speak only German, scurrying around in their claustrophobic confines, trying to repair their almost unfixable boat. The next move they make is to radio Berlin and get a boat to resupply them.
The scene switches to the good guys, the American sailors, who are on shore leave, celebrating together with a big bash. Andy Tyler (Matthew McConaughey) is the second-in-command and is saddened, he has just received the news that he was passed over for captain. His hard-nosed commanding officer Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) refuses to recommend him for promotion, as he doesn't believe Tyler has the right stuff to lead the men by making the hard decisions that are necessary without feeling sorry for them. The stern-looking Andy, contrary to his appearance and tight-lipped nature, is just too friendly with the crew and even though he's very competent and ambitious, he is told that his time hasn't come yet. Predictably, you can figure out where the film is going with this subplot!
Shore leave is suddenly cancelled and this gives the film an opportunity to introduce some of the standard main characters always found in films like this, such as the loyal old-timer, Chief Klough (Keitel), who can't wait for some action, and all the green sailors worried about their first war assignment, as the men stand in the rain by the dock watching their submarine being equipped anew. They are about to find out that they are going out to sea disguised as a German supply ship to rendezvous with the stranded German U-boat and take from it an Enigma code machine (a classified-secret encoding device resembling a typewriter). The mission calls for them to get onboard and steal the Enigma machine without the enemy knowing it is missing. This machine is so important, that it is more valued than their lives, being that it can shorten the war once gotten undetected into allied hands. The machine allows the Germans to relay positions of Allied shipping on the Atlantic. This fictionalized version varies greatly from the historical records, where the British actually carried out this assignment in 1941, a year before America was to enter the war, and this one episode is an amalgam of several such episodes. In actuality, the British Navy's HMS Bulldog grabbed the Enigma from a German U-boat while a Station X in the English countryside performed the decoding. This matter is detailed in Robert Harris' novel Enigma.
The most action-packed scene comes about in the dark and in the rain at the renedezvous, as the Americans and the Germans on the U-boat go at it. The action is tense but hard to see what's clearly taking place, as death is happening quickly and each side looks like the other in the dark. As an added kicker the American's ship is blown up by the German supply ship coming on the scene earlier than expected, which causes most of the sailors we just met, such as the Bon Jovi character and the marine major (Keith) who trained them, to be killed off. We are left with a handful of American survivors retreating back to the compromised German submarine, who will have to battle it out with the powerful German boat standing in its way. Andy will be in charge, as the captain was killed, but Andy will have the chief and his years of experience to counsel him if necessary. The chief will give him his unswerving support and the men will learn to respect him as the one giving the orders now. We are on familiar territory here, with one more bit of melodrama, if Andy fails to succeed, he can't let his men live, the reason being that the Germans must not know that their secret coding system has been stolen, and that the men would be unmercifully tortured if taken alive.
The film has almost every expected submarine battle scene ever presented take place. It is directed with emphasis on sustaining suspense, building on the action scenes, and letting go full force with its special effects, making for a solid and exciting effort. Though, to its down side, character development is the first casuality in this war film- it simply is not a top priority of the director for this nut-and- bolts actioner. The same could be said for dialogue, which consists mainly of drab submarine lingo.
Matthew McConaughey must carry this film and he does, as a tight-lipped career sailor who becomes the Man under trying circumstances, who convincingly becomes the hero overnight, giving the public what it wants. But I don't think this film has that something special that sometimes makes these easy-to-watch films into blockbusters. But it should do a brisk business in the box office, anyway. It is a film geared for the unthinking man that is well-crafted and impressive in carrying out its purpose to be about those who are efficient at doing their job and don't question orders. It's a change of pace from a lot of the current war films and a throwback to those old WW11 genre films, with perhaps, a new audience ready to take that leap back in time, and maybe, even an old audience, coming back to see a war that counted for something, at a time when values were much different, a time when such a full-scale war can be remembered fondly by an older generation, who know the price that was paid for the war effort by the loss of lives it cost.
REVIEWED ON 4/26/2000 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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