U-571 (DVD, 2000)

Fairly ordinary movie about a WWII mission to capture a damaged German Submarine, the U-571. There has been a flash fire onboard and the entire engine room crew has been killed. There isn't anyone else on board who knows how to repair the engines. A distress message was intercepted from the sub to German High Command for assistance. The challenge is to get to the U-571 and capture it before the Germans can respond. The plan is to use an old WWI sub, S-33, which resembles the German design enough to fool the sub crew. The goal is to capture the secret coding device, ENIGMA, and the code books. If the sub can be captured, the Germans will simply think that it sunk before they arrived and not be the wiser. All goes well until the Americans and Germans arrive at the same time. The Americans capture the German sub, but before they can get away, the German sub sinks the American sub and kills almost everybody. Now the only hope they have is the crippled German sub that can't hardly maneuver. Luckily, they are able to sink the German sub, but still unable to maneuver, they are not out of the water. Their secret mission doesn't include being in a German submarine. Pretty good movie.

I bought this movie because I like good war movies. This one had both submarine and U-boats facing off, intrigue and the relationship of the YOUNG(17-18 year old) men serving on the boat. I also liked the Directors commentary on why he did this movie. This movie is along the lines of "Run Silent Run Deep and "Das Boat".

This is a fun little war flick with some good action. Some of the acting is a little over the top and a couple of the twists and turns are a little unrealistic, but if you just relax and enjoy the ride it is a fun movie. They tried hard to make the film historically accurate but it has a few problems. Again only slightly distracting from a fun story. It does not even come close to Das Boot in terms of drama or realism.

I bought this DVD because I have watched the movie on cable and it is an enjoyable war story about capturing a German U-boat for the Enigma machine and codes. Good action, good actors.

This is probably Matthew McConaughey's best performance yet. The story is very inspiring. Although things weren't working his way at the start, a challenge that called for his best brought out the best in him----because he followed orders and finally proved himself a true leader in many risk-taking circumstances. After the first five minutes or so, the whole movie was fast-paced and intense. McConaughey needed to constantly make decisions which were difficult at best. It is a war movie, so you need to know that sacrifices must be made for the good of the country. Superb movie!