Rating: 
Summary: Hold Your Breath!
Review: This is a great edge-of-your-seat movie. The characters are very likable and the special effects are awesome! I love it when the depth charges explode and you can actually see the ships bend from the pressure. After the movie was over, I stopped holding my breath and came up for air. This is not a perfect 5 star movie, but it is well worth paying the price of admission!
Rating:
Summary: Jawohl, Herr Kaleun!
Review: Wow! If only my grandfather would have seen this movie, too.A German Type VII submarine that survives explosions of depth charges less than 10 meters away, torps another dived submarine, dives below 200 meters regularly, goes muzzle to muzzle with a German destroyer (how did this thing get into the Atlantic anyway?) and sinks it with a single torpedo (not to mention an explosion like a Chinese nuclear torp)? Sounds like the dream of 30.000 seamen come true. Okay, enough sarcasm. It is a nice-made movie. What really surprised me is that - unlike most compareable movies - the original crew of U-571 was really speaking German language and all the gauges, levers and buttons have the correct markings. I really would like to know, if the U.S. version of this movie has subtitles, because the European version has none. Compared to - naturally - Das Boot, the optical presentation of U-571 is much better after 20 years, but the athmosphere of being inside such a steel tube is being presented much better on board of U-96 (a Type VII sub, too). Another point where U-571 can't win against Das Boot is Klaus Doldinger's great soundtrack of DB, but on the other hand, being much more action-oriented, U-571 got no long periods of talking, waiting and thinking that made Das Boot sometimes hard to bear for the typical action freak. If you like submarines, light stories, well-made action and have seen movies like Hunt For Red October, Crimson Tide and Das Boot, you've found the right movie. (but I still don't understand how a Messerschmidt 109 recon bird can get that far into the Atlantic Ocean...)
Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic
Review: This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Matthew McConaughey can act, but with this poor excuse for a movie he is given no room to shine. Also, I disliked Harvey Keitel in 1999's Holy Smoke and after seeing this I dislike him even more. Do yourself a favor and pass this movie up the next time you want to rent a movie
Rating: 
Summary: Its not "pro-American", its just GOOD
Review: First of all, anyone who knows basic WWII history understands that the Americans, in ADDITION to the Brits, did recover Enigmas. The British were the first to do it, yes, but the US also did it. So stop freaking out over a movie--its a movie, not a documentary. Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, and every single cast member of this movie is spectacular. Every last one. They work together so well, they really made the movie convincing. The special effects are incredible. The sound--especially if you have a Dolby-ready television--blows you away. I could watch those splashes fall all day long. The story line can be a little hoky at times, just like any other movie--the axe scene, the cheesy final scene--but the rest of the movie makes up for it. This is one of the most gripping movies in recent memory. The special features are incredible. For all you staunch history buffs--everyone reviewing so far seems to be one--the shorts "Inside The Enigma" and "Britain Captures the U-110", and the documents in the "U.S. Naval Archives: Capturing the U-505" section, each give you the full, true story of how the Enigmas were seized. Jonathan Mostow repeatedly reminds us the the British were the original ones who captured the machine. So you can't claim that this is all "propaganda" if the director, producers, and actors will tell you that it was originally the British. The special features are what truly make this DVD spectacular. It has so many more than most DVDs, and they are all superb in quality. Its especially interesting to listen to the story of the British submariner who was the first to grasp the Enigma, and also to see how they painstakingly recreated sea-worthy U-Boats for the film. Aside from all the tedious nitpicking, this is an INCREDIBLE film, and its something everyone can enjoy. Its the one DVD in my collection that I can watch over and over again, and never tire of.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor, pro ameriacan trash
Review: This is a 'true story'... but the seamen were English, not American. The story is overblown, over dramatised and fairly forgettable. No stand out performances, special effects are ok, but lack any new material. Its the same old hollywood story under the pretense of truth. If you want ot see a good submarine movie buy Crimson Tide.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfulfilled promise somewhat met by DVD extra features
Review: U-571 is all promise and no payoff. A neat dramatic trick starts us out with instant tension between the sub captain (Paxton) and his executive officer (McConaughey)--so McConaughey's on a slow boil as the mission gets underway. Things start to happen quickly enough, surprises lurk, and before you know it, you're really into the story. But somewhere after the half-way mark, the movie navigates its way into familiar waters. At times, it's almost like we're watching parts of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER all over again. One of the crises McConaughey encounters is almost directly lifted from CRIMSON TIDE; another from DAS BOOT. By the end, what had been a novel entry in the submarine sub-genre just barely limps back into port. The DVD is helped somewhat by a whole range of extra features, but it's still not enough to make you happy about the ending. If anything, the director's commentary almost makes things worse by its blindness about the banality of the film's ending. Worth getting only in this edition, because at least you'll learn a little something about filmmaking and the importance of Dino de Laurentis to the film industry.
Rating:
Summary: Light, but does the job...
Review: A neat throwback to the war/adventure stories of a bygone era. The movie is fun, tense, and engaging with great, realistic performances. They took great liberties with the story, but it's not claiming to be a documentary. All in all, it only attempts to be a crackling thriller and on that level it succeeds. For a fun/historical treat watch the movie, then tour the U-505 at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
Rating:
Summary: Sad. Watch "Das Boot" instead.
Review: Historically laughable: Americans never did this. The British did in some ways. Why not tell the real story? Merely OK in the suspense department. In many ways plagiarizes Das Boot (e.g., depth charge scenes). Technically absurd: one single sub torpedo completely and instantly blowing up a destroyer (this is a crucial scene in the film)? Come on. Psychologically unrewarding. The human side of the main characters is underdeveloped. You have a German captain captured and then he plays almost no role in the entire plot? A lost opportunity. And so on. Only redeeming item: five-star actor Harvey Keitel, unfortunately in one of his weakest performances (not his fault: it's the script, stupid!) In short, if you are going to spend money on a submarine film, buy "Das Boot" instead.
Rating:
Summary: U-571 ::::::: WOW!
Review: This movie brings us back to the Spring of 1941 ~ in the midst of World War II, the US NAVY Allies plan on taking over a Nazi U-571 submarine to steal their 'enigma coding machine'...things go a little differently when the men wind up stranded on the U-Boat. The movie takes us along the ride as the men, lead by the talented Matthey McConaughey (playing Lieutenant Andrew Tyler) use their training and skills to pilot the foreign U-571 in order to save their lives! Jon Bon Jovi did an excellent job as Lieutenant Pete Emmett, although all you fans looking to see Bon Jovi through out the whole film, may be dissapointed! (He's only in the 1st third of the movie) Harvey Keitel as Chief Klough is a wonderful and talented edition as well. Watching this showed me how BRAVE you must be to fight in a war~!! Some of the scenes where explosions takes place are magnificent! Watch this movie if you feel like seeing a little fiction based on fact!
Rating:
Summary: A fine WWII sub flick with good special effects
Review: I like U-571 a lot. I am not pretending to be some big war movie critic but I think that this film is among the best submarine films of all time. It is based on a true story and is well acted with a decent plot. To me the star of the film is the special effects. Everything looks so real (and makes older sub flicks like "Red October" hard to watch in the special effects department). I like this film and have watched it a few times. Note: A good surround sound unit is a MUST for viewing this film. It sounds excellent.
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