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U-571 Send This Review to a Friend
A World War II submarine action story gets the full treatment in this taut but predictable example of the genre. The twist here is that an American submarine goes on a secret mission pretending to be a Nazi submarine so that its crew can hi-jack a German sub in a quest to capture a machine with the "Enigma" code that has enabled the Nazis to play havoc with shipping of supplies via the Atlantic. When the operation runs into trouble, the Americans are put in the position of having to operate the badly crippled German sub and fight the odds with heroic ingenuity and stamina to assure the success of the original mission.
With that set-up, director Jonathan Mostow, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Montgomery and David Ayer, piles on the action, the technical talk, the strategy and the visual and sound effects to work up convincing physical, claustrophobic reality and a sense of impending doom that tests the courage of the crew, sadly decimated along the way. What lacks reality is the far-fetched number of escapes needed. The odds of a sub and its men able to survive the succession of crises and extinction threats posed in this action flick are long indeed.
At the outset before the men plunge into the deep the basic character issue is established. Matthew McConauguhey as Tyler is itching to get a command, but is told he isn't yet ready to take charge of a ship. He's one angry officer. But when Lieutenant Commander Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) needs to be replaced, next-in-line Tyler must show his ability and rises to the occasion in a hurry. Actors playing other Americans on the mission include Jake Weber, David Keith, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, Matthew Settle, Jack Noseworthy, T. C. Carson, Thomas Guiry, Erik Palladino, Dave Power, Derk Cheetwood and Will Estes.
As such films go, "U-571" works on its elementary level, and the yarn can grip an audience that doesn't pause to think too hard. The tension, the talk, the action, the constant threat--all are in place to provide plenty of thrills for folks who eat up stuff like this. A Universal Pictures release.
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