U-571 (2000)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jonathan Mostow

Writers (WGA):

Jonathan Mostow (story)
Jonathan Mostow (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 April 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

You won't come up for air until it's over!

Plot:

A German submarine is boarded by disguised American submariners trying to capture their Enigma cipher machine.

Plot Keywords:

U Boat | Sos | Submarine | Code | Torpedo

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. July 23

10:30 AM

USA

Cast

Matthew McConaughey	...	Lt. Andrew Tyler, Executive Officer
Bill Paxton	...	Lt. Cmdr. Mike Dahlgren
Harvey Keitel	...	CPO Henry Klough
Jon Bon Jovi	...	Lt. Pete Emmett, Chief Engineer
David Keith	...	Maj. Matthew Coonan, USMC, Office of Naval Intelligence
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Capt.-Lt. Gunther Wassner
Jake Weber	...	Lt. Hirsch, USNR
Jack Noseworthy	...	Seaman Bill Wentz, Radioman
Tom Guiry	...	Seaman Ted 'Trigger' Fitzgerald, Radioman
Will Estes	...	Seaman Ronald 'Rabbit' Parker, Torpedoman
Terrence 'T.C.' Carson	...	Steward Eddie Carson
Erik Palladino	...	Seaman Anthony Mazzola, Planesman
Dave Power	...	Seaman Charles 'Tank' Clemens, Machinist Mate
Derk Cheetwood	...	Seaman Herb Griggs, Helmsman
Matthew Settle	...	Ens. Keith Larson, Chief Torpedoman

Also Known As:

U-571 (France)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for war violence.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | South Korea:12 | Singapore:PG | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Canal Plus Image International

Trivia:

In the original script, when Tyler is thoughtfully looking at the pictures in the German submarine's mess, he recognizes the prisoner wearing a captain's uniform.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the team takes the enemy U-Boat and they have to use it to escape the German resupply U-boat, Lt. Tyler is rapidly turning two dive valves in one direction. In the next scene, he is rapidly turning them in the opposite direction.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: He torpedoed me, Chief. Nine months aboard the S-33 doing the best job I know how. Doing everything once, and then doing it again just to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time.
Chief Klough: You'll get your chance sir. There's other commands in the navy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Top Gear: (2004-11-21)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Lover, Come Back to Me

American Military Pornography

This is yet another epic film about heroic Americans stepping into a situation, destroying everything, and creating an unhealthy and polarized sense of morality (the good Americans kill the evil Germans). You could label this film racist... perhaps acceptable when the propaganda was necessary (in the 40's), but certainly not 50 years after the fact.

The film also fails to capture a good sense of life in one of these submarines... since the film concentrates on military glory and good triumphing over evil, the potentially powerful, subtler moments of suspense are hopelessly lost, and the film degenerates into a muffled confusion of trumpets and excessively justified violence.

It is impossible to watch this without thinking of Das Boot, and how much more powerful the cinematography and directing are, not to mention how much more tolerant and accurate a picture it paints of the morality of warfare and of Germans as real people during the war.

My rating is 2/10 on this film, because it has wasted a potentially powerful concept on mindless and destructive entertainment, questioned Germans as human beings, took millions of dollars to do it, and is essentially a cultural regression from its ancestor Das Boot, made 20 years prior.