IMDB Rating: 6.40, 21464 votes |
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In the midst of World War II, the battle below the seas rages. The Nazi's have the upper edge as the Allies are unable to crack their war codes. That is, until a wrecked U-boat sends out an SOS signal, and the Allies realise this is their chance to seize the 'enigma coding machine'. But masquerading as Nazi's and taking over the U-boat is the smallest of their problems. The action really begins when they get stranded on the U-boat.Actors
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25 Comments
There’s nothing too memorable about this one.
It is no DAS BOOT
Maybe worth a matinee
Plot: 5
Originality: 3
Visuals: 6
Acting: 4
Overall: 4.5
Same old submarine crap
very exciting if you’re not too ‘Hollywood’-jaded
Maybe it was because I don’t like these kinds of movies I got extremely bored.
another nice piece of hollywood history.
Not that much there… dont bother with it.
Long and kinda drab, but still worth seeing once.
Usual submarie movie, pretty good but nothing special
Silence Is Golden
You want old school? Then look no further than U-571, Jonathan Mostow’s submarine flick that pays homage to a valiant crew (originally British, but American in the film) that captured the German Enigma Code Machine, enabling them to decode German submarine messages.
While many people revere the poignancy of such war films as Saving Private Ryan, Mostow heads off into a different direction with U-571: pure and tense entertainment. The film does not bother with morals, or even the truth (as seen in the replacement of British sailors with Americans). U-571 has the lines clearly drawn: the Allies are good, the Germans are bad, and that’s that.
Matthew McConaughey stars in U-571 as Lieutenant Tyler, a man in peril in the Navy, who has to define his strong role after the mayhem that erupts during an already chaotic mission. Tyler has to held lead his men aboard a sub (marked as a Nazi U-Boat) in order to fool a damaged German sub into believing they are there to help. Then, after fooling the Germans, Tyler and his men are to steal the Enigma Code machine. This mission is successful, but when the sailors are ready to go back to their sub, it is torpedoed. This leaves Tyler and his crew no choice but to get back on the German sub and ride it to safety.
Mostow keeps the story very simple, and the film benefits from it greatly. There are hardly any minor subplots present, which leaves the story focused on the men and their attempts to save their lives, and the precious Enigma machine. Cinematically, the film is well shot, and edited nicely. Overall, nothing in the film is extraordinary. It is just well put together, and at the end of the film, you cannot help but smile. The experience isn’t up there with Saving Private Ryan, but it is one of the better ones you’ll have this year.
The cast continues this theme of "solidness" with good performances from the big and small performers alike. McConaughey keeps his performance in range, never going overboard (sorry, no pun intended) with a film that could have very easily become overdramatic. Harvey Keitel also chips in a key performance as Chief Klough, one of the men trying to keep order while Lt. Tyler tries to get a hold of his newfound power. Other key performances come from:
— Jon Bon Jovi: playing Lt. Pete Emmett, the rocker keeps a low profile and doesn’t let his famous mug get in the way of a key role.
— Bill Paxton: playing the original man in charge, Paxton does not consume much screentime, but he displays great command while featured, and keeps the film in perspective.
— Jack Noseworthy: playing the small, German-speaking Wentz, this little guy gives the greatest performance (in my opinion) in the film. His delivery and silence (a feature I’ll get to in a minute) make him stand out amongst a sea (sorry, pun #2) of good performances.
Now, about that silence thing…Mostow portrays the intense harm a submarine takes very well, but he has an even greater knack for everything leading up to the fights. The "calm before the storm," so to speak. Before the depth charges are dropped into the sea, Mostow makes the scenes even more tense with his ability to draw the scene out without making it too boring. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you watch every crew member listening for the eerie splashes. These tense, quiet moments are undoubtedly the best of the film, and will have you biting your nails no matter how many times you see this film.
U-571 does not pack the emotional and moral punch that a war film like Saving Private Ryan does, but that doesn’t take away from the film’s entertainment value. Mostow may mess around with the historical facts a bit, but the story is just as exhilarting and tense, no matter what countries are fighting the battle.
Mediocre submariner actioner, smacks of a made-for-TNT movie.
That guy from Dazed and Confused just needs to give it up. He’s boring boring boring and I just can’t stand to watch him anymore. He bored me in Contact, and if I were ever going to bother seeing it I’m sure he’d bore me in The Wedding Planner.
The action sequences are pretty good. The fX are pretty good, but then they had a bit of budget to play with here. There is a lot of good submarine detail, especially in the beginning. I liked that, it gave us something to pay attention to. The dramatic scenes were played and shot well. There is real tension when the sub is under fire from depth charges or when they’re storming the uboat and stuff like that.
So it’s pretty exciting, but there’s nothing going on aside from that. The tense scenes aside, I wouldn’t have cared much if any of these characters bought the farm at any point in the flick. Bill Paxton excepted. I always have to root for his character to kick the bucket, just so I don’t have to listen to his voice and look at that gap-toothed grimace. But then, "Travellers" was pretty good… everybody gets lucky sometimes.
U-571
U-571 is an excellent movie.I LOVED it.
Jonathan Mostow(Director.)picked excellent actors to be in it too!!They
were all great.U-571 is a great movie
with lots of action and suspense.I have a U-571 Club at http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/u571movieclub
Heroes are ordinary men
who do extraordinary things
in extraordinary times.
On this day,in the height of the war-
Men lost.Battles won.
We remember the U-boat war.
(U-571.)
Hey, it’s not a real WW2 story, but I like it!
U-571 is a very good film and all the action people should really see this. Ingorne all the things people have complained about it (yes the british did take the eginma first) But’s it fun for most things. Just see it!
lots of excitement. People in the theater were actually clapping. Action packed.
this movie sucked
Usually submarine movies are good but this one was boring and had bad acting to boot. If you want to see a good submarine move see ‘Das Boot’, ‘Hunt for Red October’ or ‘Crimson Tide’.
Solid action flick.
Very good submarine movie. Good plot - no surprises though.
Good movie for submarine buffs, but Crimson Tide was better for me.
Action-orientated and highly entertaining! Shows it’s depth and character.
good action packed flick.
could have used more character development, but all in all a very good action movie. when it ends you will think it was a short film until you look at your watch, time flies in this one.
Swept away, but not quite blown away.
This movie definitely merits a viewing on the big screen. The nonstop action will do to you all of the things described in various overused cliches (i.e. hold you at the edge of your seat). Once aboard the submarine you will feel like a part of the crew through the whole movie as it unfolds in front of you. And unfold it does. After all, those old U-boats could only take so much abuse after all.
My only regret is that they don’t take a long enough pause anywhere amidst the action to develop some of the characters a bit more. For a movie that expects you to care about the heroes who die for the cause, they don’t spend much Time on some of them, leaving you wondering who just died and what his relationship was to Lt Andrew Tyler (Mathew McConaughey).
As it is, you will probably walk away from this movie not having remembered a single character’s name, so in the end you may end up recalling this movie only in passing
("Hey man, you remember that submarine movie about those guys after the German device?" "Yea man, it was cool, U-something-or-other. You remember the Master Chief, uh, Harvey Keitel played him.")
I wish this movie was longer. Only so that they could have developed the characters more. Again, I walked away feeling good about what I saw but not remembering a single character name.
Some people may complain about the complete lack of historical truth to the entire movie. That’s right, there is not one shred of truth in the whole movie, except for the fact that the device the crew was after did indeed exist and was just as important to the Allies during World War II. Only those darn Brits were the ones responsible for its capture.
Could they have made the movie about a British sub crew who goes on this mission? Of course they could have, and it would have had just as powerful of an impact. But heck, this is good old Hollywood, USA after all.
One final thing (I promise). The main theme song from U-571 was just this -> <- close to being a rip off of Saving Private Ryan’s theme. In fact for a second I thought I WAS listening to SPR’s theme song.
The best Submarine movie ever made!
I loved this movie. It was very well done. The Special effects were awesome. The soundtrack and sound effects were some of the best i’ve heard.
This movie was very realistic. The scence where the sub is being depth charged made me fell like i was there. The acting was great as well. Mathew McConaughey was great. He acted his part very well. But i think Harvey Keitel stole the show.
The only thing i didn’t like. And the only thing keeping this movie from a 10 was that 1 torpedo can not "blow up" a destroyer. Sure it could sink one, but not blow one to hell in a few seconds.
Other than that small problem this movie rocked, go see it.
Suspensful, well cast, good action
This is a really entertaining movie. The cast was great. The suspense kept me biting my nails right up to the very end. The action was well choreographed. This movie is right up there with Das Boot.
I’m blown away..
The best action movie I’ve seen in years. My high expectations were exceeded!
Sub fans don’t miss this one!