Rating: 
Summary: You never get to see who you're fighting against...
Review: The movie is nothing short of incredible. While the mini series was even better since it had more time to recreate those periods of boredom which are described in the book in such meticulous, almost boring detail, I could watch the movie on DVD, which meant DD5.1 soundtrack. The sound effects alone would warrant the 5 stars, but... there is more. The picture. It's fantastic, but we're used to that on DVD. Nevertheless, I found it quite exceptional in its quality. The Making of... is a masterpiece in itself, astounding you with creativity of the movie crew as well as their quest for ultimate realism. And then there's the movie itself. You feel as if you were part of the crew, cursing your heart for beating so loud when there's an English destroyer above you. You scarcly get to see the sunlight, and when you do, it appears almost mocking. From the hilarious beginning, free of any political correctness (no, they're not advertising for Nazis, if that's what you think) to the end, which is, to put it mildly, shocking, you never truly enjoy the movie in the traditional sense of the word. You're scared, wet with sweat, you can hardly breathe... It's the lost great Greek tragedy, uncovered only now. You'll turn off your DVD player sad, perhaps crying, but somehow, you will feel cleansed. And that's what Greek tragedy is all about.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Submarine Story Ever Told
Review: This film is a dedication to the brave men who served on German U-Boats. Almost half of whom never returned. This is a gripping tale of harsh reality as well as an anti-war film. This movie chronicles life on board a German U-Boat toward the end of the war. With the Allies controlling the skies, and allied submarine hunter-killer vessels searching for German submarines, U-Boats continued to be used to satisfy one mission requirement or another. Keep in mind that the German surface fleet was very ineffective. The U-Boats were the only shinning stars to Germany's naval campaigns. The U-boats's stoic skipper receives orders to sail through the heavily guarded straits of Gibraltar to cause havoc to allied shipping in the Meditterranean Sea. Suffice it to say, the trip through Gibraltar is extremely dangerous. However, the courageous crew and her skipper manage to survive, and sail on. In the end, after surviving harrowing experiences at sea, the U-Boat and her crew meet a very inronic fate. The crew has to find even the most basic of supplies to survive. In one scene, the scruffy captain complains that the ship has plenty of torpedoes but not a single roll of wire to repair damages. The skipper and the crew have to improvise and make due with what they have. As the crew goes through Gibraltar, anxiety sets in as they sink to the bottom, only to be saved by a ledge. Although exhausted, the crew works feverishly to get the sub moving again. You will legimately feel sorry for these sailors and the captain as they struggle to survive. With the exception of one "clown," the crew consists of sailors and officers -- to include the captain -- who do not hold a very high regard for Der Fuhrer and the German high command. Their motive is to accomplish the missions given to them, and to survive impossible odds. As an anti-war movie, I place Das Boot alongside masterpieces such as Dr. Strangelove and Duck Soup. "Strangelove" and "Duck Soup" used humor to get their anti-war message across. "Das Boot" uses stark realism and bitter irony. I strongly recommend this movie. I also suggest that you get the German version of this movie (with English Subtitles). Believe me, this version will make Das Boot even more hard hitting. This movie is full of realistic seat-of-your-pants suspense. Your eyes will stay glued to the monitor. You will even find yourself watching this movie more than once. Excellent film!!!
Rating:
Summary: An Awesome movie!
Review: I was absolutely engrossed in this movie, from the opening of the movie when written dialogue tells you that 30,000 out of the 40,000 German u boat young sailors died during World War 2. I was amazed at how realistic the movie was. The sound and the realism of the u boat was amazing! I felt like I was right their in the boat. At times I was even starting to feel claustrophobic! The characters of the movie were very likable. I could really emphasize with their fear, intense panic, restlessnes, desperation and hope for survival. I cannot imagine living with the fear of being attacked and dieing 24 hours a day, the way they had to. This film really showed me how senseless and crazy war is. It was very clear that the Germans in this ship killed only because they had to. They were certainly not ruthless, mechanical killers. They were human beings, with wives and girlfriends. It was not their fault that they were fighting for the wrong side. They were only obeying orders. About half way through the movie they were given orders to go on what amounted to a 'suicide mission'. The sailors knew this too, but they had no choice. I cannot begin to imagine how it would feel to be sent on a mission that was probably going to kill you. There is a real surprise ending to this movie. I watched the 'Directors Cut' version, dubbed in English and I highly reccomend that you see it. I plan on renting the sub titled German version in the near future.
Rating:
Summary: Subperb Movie
Review: I consider Wolfgang Petersen as one of the most talented visionary directors in the history of the cinema. 'Das Boot' is an instant classic and one of the greatest movies I have ever had the honor of viewing. The atmosphere, characters, situations, and attention to detail make this movie a must watch...especially since the DVD has English dubbing for you non German speakers. The story is simple...but OH So powerfull. A submarine sets off from port on its dangerous voyage of seek-and-destroy. At first, the mariners are eager and youthful...but as time passes and they sink their first ship, they become aware of the horrors of war and age into old men from within. Soon after, they receive a special order to penetrate the narrow Gibraltar Strait and thus set off for what has become one of the most memorable collection of events in movie history. 'Das Boot' captures the dissilusionment that grows like the mold within the submarine, the horror of the submarine moniker 'floating coffins', and the human spirit that prevails. If this movie does not touch you, if this movie does not move you, if this movie does not inspire you, then you must be cold- dead.
Rating:
Summary: Not your typical war film
Review: Most War movies are just about action.They're usually about 2 hours worth of men killing each other, and that's it. Not that action is always a bad thing, it worked very well in Saving Private Ryan(but Ryan is an exception)Usually in War films we don't learn about the charachters, and hence, don't care much about them. This movie is different, it's authentic, and also shows how different people react to certain situations. Because of the movie's length, by the end you are almost certain to get some sort of feel as to what it's like to be in a submarine for an extended amount of time. Many people complain that this movie is boring. They just don't have good attention spans.(I know because I've insulted them I'll get many "non-helpful" votes.) This movie is about realism. If you don't want that, and prefer action, go watch John Wayne. Those kind of movies where the good guys are always confident, and the heroes always prevail. But if you want to see a WWII movie with a different perspective, I reccomend this one.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a flipper!
Review: The only complaint I have about this DVD is that it's a flipper - the one has material on both side and you have to turn it over by hand in the middle of the movie. Otherwise it's wonderful. The picture and sound quality are supperb, excellent re-mastering job (it's a 1981 movie!). They made it a flipper because the cut is very long (>3hrs) and has both English and German DD5.1. I will give it 5 stars if it's not a flipper. I hated flipper and I sweared not to buy any flipper after Amadeus. But I bought this one as exception - showing how good this movie really is.
Rating:
Summary: Great and Outstanding Movie
Review: I say this movie is probably one of the best recent WWII submarine movies of recent times. From my experiences of visiting a German U-boat (U-505) the set matches very well to what it actually looks like on the inside. The cramped quarters for the crew was depicted very well. One thing that they remembered in this movie (comparing to the recent theater release of U-571), the periscope is in the correct location and stays there. It is in the conning tower and not in the control room. The intensity of the attacks was written and acted out well as during the latter half of the war when the Allies developed better anti-submarine weaponry and detection devices, the U-boats were getting hit very hard. The camera angles taken in the ship made me feel as if I were actually there and even I felt the fear as the men did when they were under a depth charge attack. After the first few minutes of the movie I really didn't even notice the subtitles anymore, partially due to the fact I took german in high school as a class. But other from my past experiences, dubbed movies have not proved to me to show the emotion and feelings of the cast as they say their lines. This movie is one of the best recent movies and maybe one of the best overall WWII sub movies I've seen.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and very slow movie
Review: This is a very boring and slow movie. I do not understand almost the 100% 5 star ratings for this movie. All we get to see for most of the movie is the crew eating food and talking vaguely about things that are of no consequence to us or the movie. And the rest of movie is how they were hit by other ships. In a word, this movie is very boring. I would give 0 stars if I could.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I did not like this movie. I tried and I tried, but it just never payed off for me... You keep waiting for the real action to start, and it never does. Way too long, it could benefit from cutting an hour or two. Then it might be bearable.
Rating:
Summary: The English Dubbing Pales
Review: Truly an outstanding film and I agree with all the positive comments. However, I have seen the film 3 times. First in German with English Subtitles, Second Dubbed in English, and again in German with English subtitles. The impact of native German spoken in combat is awesome and cannot be captured in the English dubbed version. The dubbed version just felt so fake. For that reason alone I gave the dubbed version one star. Get the English subtitled version if possible, DVD if you can!
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