U-571 (2000)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The acting in this movie is really good.

On the one hand, very good interpretations, rhythm and emotion and on the other hand a very unbelievable argument, plus the same repeated scenes from all submarine films (it is essential to be under enemy frigate / destroyer and depth charges) The soundtrack is so loud and strong that sometimes the conversations can not be heard and a final teaching: you have to be a perfect bastard without feelings towards your crew to become a submarine captain. Very inspired by Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" masterpiece which can only be criticized for its excessive length but this one remains as the essential referent.Das boot sails above U571 so far.

If you accept it as a fictional submarine battle movie than it's an okay watch for die hard WW2 movie fans. But bear in mind there are some faults. The first storming of the U571 was confusing with too much machine gun fire and it was hard to keep track of what happened to some of the characters. That's simply bad directing. Later on there were too many violent explosions on the submarine for them not to have sunk immediately. Sometimes less is more. Things get a outrageously unbelievable as the battle proceeds.There was some noise about historical inaccuracies but face it would Hollywood make a movie about British finding an Enigma machine in a submarine? How are they going to put Matthew McConaughey in it?

This is not a historical film or even based on a true story. It simply is WW2 themed action flick. For that, it is very good film. I don't understand why some reviews criticize for historic values. That's like expecting historical accuracy from James Bond series.The movie is well acted, well scripted and well told. Actions are not over the top and although some explosion effects looked fake, it doesn't take away from the story.Matthew McConaughey is sometimes criticized for his acting early in his career but I actually think he did a very good job portraying the young inexperienced captain in this movie.

This "movie" is no worth seeing. Historical errors are the stars, Special Effects are ludicrous, and the acting of the cast is repulsive. Pistols with endless rounds of bullets, machine guns which only wound or kill the bad guys, commandos who board a German ship without knowing a word of German language, torpedoes that miss their targets. etc. This is not a movie about a historical fact, but only a low quality adaptation of a novel. It isn't even a comedy. It doesn't deserve the qualification of "1" but there is no possible way to give it a negative value. My advice: If this is the only movie to see, switch the TV off and grab a good book. At least the later is an environment-friendly attitude.