In Enemy Hands (2005)

Why so much hype?

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

It's better than the awful U 571 ( complete crap). This one at least have some interesting GCI scenes to see but the actions aboard the subs are not realistic at all. The actor who portrays the American captain ( Scott Caan) is a major problem, to. He is absolutely terrible and not suitable as a submarine captain at all ( he is a jerk and acts and looks like one all the time).

This is without a doubt, the worst submarine warfare movie that I have ever seen. The acting was "wooden", even Macy seemed to be "off". Even worse, there are so many historical errors, 1000 words would not begin to allow description. Had the acting been better, this might have been bearable and easier to overlook. That was not the case. The "sets" are completely unbelievable, U boats and Gato class Subs were incredibly small, wet, stinky and dirty places. This is why they were called "Pig" boats. There was no smoking on board submarines, except on deck when surfaced. Subs did not fire torpedoes at one another when below periscope depth or maneuvering under water. Submarines are cramped and full of wires, cables, pipes and valves. Radios and radiotelegraphs of the day do not work when submerged. The American captain "ordering" the deathly sick executive officer to his battle station would never happen. Submarines did not carry an "MD", medical issues would have been taken care of by a Pharmacy Mate and the Sub commander would have been well aware of the Execs condition and this condition would likely have ended a war patrol. The German U-boats never took aboard captives, and certainly not the numbers represented here, there was no room, food or water on these boats to support prisoners. In fact, after events early in the War, Karl Doenitz issued the "Laconia Order", which PROHIBITED U-Boats from taking on ANY survivor from enemy ships. American Admiral Nimitz signed and affidavit to the effect that American subs were under similar orders. German and American Enlisted Sailors would NEVER have spoken back to their commanding officers as these fellows did. There would have been no "discussion" or "voting" once the ranking officer made the decision and gave orders. If you want to see a REAL WW II Submarine movie, by far the best, most historically accurate is "Das Boot". This movie was a waste of time and electricity.

They cant have made any research on WW2 U-boot technology or tactics. A captain would NEVER raise periscope seconds after the last depth charge gone off and neither would he attack a destroyer from 2800 meters when the destroyer is searching for the same sub. Also WW2 torpedoes would never be fired two at the time since the first torpedo would destroy the second on impact or if one of them is a dud, both would be destroyed.They also load the torpedoes just before launch, IRL it took at least 15 min to load a torpedo and while doing it they risked being detected.The torpedoes seem to have modern tracking devices since they always hit on the first attempt and also explode next to ships. Magnetic detonators had a lot of problems during the early war.This is just a beginning of the unrealism in the movie. Compared to Das Boot, this is crap. One good thing is that the Germans speak German.

The film is based on historic deeds,thus the construction of new U-boats continued at a record -breaking during WWII. In 1942-43 Hitler raised enormously his U-boat strength,the German submarines sank numerous ships,in early 1943 the called ¨Wolf packs¨sank 90 ships in 20 days.Then,suddenly ,between March and June 1943,an exceptional change took place .The Allies began to win the war against Hitler's underwater in the Battle of the Atlantic.By this time the technique of submarines warfare had advanced far beyond that used in the beginning the war.The Allies pitted thousands of boats,seamen,destroyers,cruisers,subs,cannons and billion of dollars against the undersea craft .As early as December 1943 Karl Doeniz ,the architect and designer of U-boat campaign,admitted the grave turn in events.The cost was great on both sides .In the six years of war ,the Germans,by their own statistics,destroyed more than 2000 British,Allied ships in the sea.Hitler had built 1162 subs ,of which 783 were lost.Of the 41000 men recruited into the underwater service ,between 28000 and 32000 lost their lives and 500 were taken prisoners.The picture narrates as the USS Swordfish underwater commanded by Cmdr Randall(Scott Caan) and the sergeant(William H. Macy)and with the crew(Jeremy Sisto,Sam Huntington among others)is sunk ,then they are captured by a Nazi U-Boat 424 commanded by a captain(Til Schweiger) and officer(Thomas Kretschman). The Americans led by the sergeant try to take over the German sub and to make their way back home confronting against Nazis sailors ,through enemies destroyers they manage to arrive at three hundred miles US coast.The movie contains nail-biting action,drama,suspense in a claustrophobic atmosphere although complemented with some of archive stock footage.The film provides a realistic detailing of life aboard and a portrait about the crews subjected to stressful and psychological tensions.In fact the sailors had sleep in shifts.For months they were lodged in close quarters because every inch the space was needed for machinery,supplies and torpedoes.The air was heavy with odors from bilges,diesel oil and unwashed bodies.The men faced sudden death from depth charges ,aerial bombing attacks or the sharp bow of a swift destroyer as happen in this film.