3/4  U-571 Quick Review
Thought this was a great story about the bravery of our servicemen during WWII and the huge risks they took to secure our victory over the Nazis. Exciting, suspenseful -- reality is always more amazing than anything we can make up.

4/5 Jonathan Mostow makes his case for U-571 . . .
  by trebe
A DeLaurentiis production, Jonathan Mostow's U-571 (2000) is a World War II adventure featuring submarines operating in the Atlantic in 1942. With plenty of tension, and some unexpected developments, the story is a bit more involved and exciting than the average underwater mission.

German sub U-571 has been crippled in battle, and another U-boat is on the way to try and repair the craft. The American Navy's plan is to immediately dispatch sub S-33, get to U-571 first, and attempt to capture the sub's enigma cipher machine. With U-boats inflicting huge losses on the supply ships to Britain, and the Allies being unable to break the German codes, securing an enigma could be a decisive development.

Mathew McConaughey is Lt. Andrew Tyler, executive officer on sub S-33, who due to lack of support from his commanding officer Lt. Commander Dahlgren (Bill Paxton), has just been denied command of his own vessel. Aboard for the mission are Intelligence officer Major Coonan (David Keith) and Lt. Hirsh (Jake Weber), who have a plan to recover the device. Initially luck is with the Americans as they get to the crippled sub first, and take control of her. But the German rescue U-boat is not far behind, and sends sub S-33 to the bottom with a torpedo shot. Tyler and a small group of sailors still aboard the U-571, scramble to get the crippled U-boat underway, and somehow manage to sink the other U-boat. With the enigma machine miraculously still aboard, the Americans begin limping toward England, facing an uncertain future.

The film has been criticized because the British, and not the Americans actually first recovered an enigma machine from a German sub. Fair enough, but listening to his commentary track, director/writer Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown), appears to have a good general knowledge of WWII movies, and has done some research on submarine warfare in particular. While the British were first, Americans did procure an Enigma machine later. Few war films put realism before being entertaining, and Mostow explains much of the thinking behind what happens in the film. U-571 is well-acted, and does not go over the top with panicking sailors.

A big fan of sub films, Mostow makes sure to include a number of the more popular submarine related clichés, stretching believability in a typically Hollywood fashion. Since the sub is crippled, we are spared the out of control crash dive down to crush depth, where water leaks in through the hull, and bolts pop out, where the crew's eyes are glued to the depth gage, listening to someone announce the depths lower and lower. We do however get to see U-571 take out a destroyer's communications with a deck gun, rush dive and cross underneath a ship, run silent in near darkness, survive exploding depth charges, release debris and a human body to simulate being hit, take cannon fire, restore the ability to fire at the last second, and launch their last remaining torpedo, which strikes home, sending the enemy destroyer down, in rather dated looking CGI flames.

For pretty well done reality based fiction, this seafaring action/adventure is recommended.

5/5 SUBMARINE WARFARE AS WE USED TO SEE IT
  by drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA)
Cast names have changed since the first talkie submarine films were made some 80 years ago but the script and direction have not. All to the good. Each generation should relive these traditional films with actors and scriptwriters who use contemporary words and voices to convey a sense of what earlier generations aspired to even if they failed fully to achieve those aspirations. This is a well-contrived, well-acted film which focuses on the demands of leadership and the need for follower-ship. In the telling we are given traditional scenes of doubt, fear, bravery, and the awkwardness of the machine operated by fallible people. What we are not given are overblown scenes of rhetorical flourishes which are often self-defeating in these cynical times.It is also an old fashioned man-warrior vehicle which may soon become obsolete. I commend it to any who desire meaningful not romanticized action.

2/5 hear me out a quick sec
  by Peter Benson (St. Louis, MO)
I mean it really is, there's nothing else you can say. Am I right? I mean, am I right on this one? Is this movie a joke or what? Forget about the fact that the Yanks weren't even in the war yet, and forget about the fact that duh seven men cannot operate a submarine, and oh yeah forget about the sub (pun intended) par acting, and don't forget to forget about the fact that for real every single thing about this movie is fake, forget about all of that and just think about this for a sec: they did all of that in the old sub and then without confirming any kind of rendezvous with a friendly vessel they abandon ship into the open sea. Can you please forget about all that other stuff and just explain that to me for a quick sec?

1/5 One of the Worst Movies Ever Made
  by Rasalon (San Diego, CA)
This movie is a complete travesty, not to mention an insult to the intelligence of the movie going public. One can only hope the producers and director of this piece of flotsam never worked in pictures again

4/5 Involving, Fast-Paced Story
  by Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
Somebody looking for an intense World War II film that has a few shocking twists, can't go too wrong with this movie. (Those annoyed by historical inaccuracies: stay away!)

For a submarine movie, it has far more action than most, with half of it outside the sub instead of inside as so often the case. It also looks great on DVD and offers some outstanding 5.1 surround sound. I'd like to see this on Blu-Ray.

This is definitely a man's movie with an all-male cast of tough seamen fighting tough Nazi seamen in the middle of WWII. Matthew McConaughey and Harvey Keitel are the two main stars and it's a bit odd to see the veteran Keitel taking orders from the "kid."

My only faults with it are that sometimes it goes a bit long on the depth-charge action scenes and that the language is too rough for a PG-13 (if you have kids). otherwise, this is good entertainment and certainly a different kind of World War II story.