No "Saving Private Ryan", but it gets the job done

Rating: Null/10 (28 April 2000)

It's something of a surprise to find a slickly commercial popcorn war film like "U-571" coming out so soon after "Saving Private Ryan" took the war genre to new depths of brutal, de-Hollywoodized realism. Still, it's almost unfair to compare two films with such radically different ambitions. "Ryan" wished to immerse its viewers into the combat soldier's experience with unprecedented verisimilitude, and it accomplished this royally. "U-571" is basically trying to give us a rollicking thrill ride aboard a World War II submarine, to excite us and stir us up in our seats. And this film likewise accomplishes its mission quite well.
The picture is inspired by actual World War II missions on which American and British soldiers recovered Enigmas, secret German coding devices which allowed the Allies to read encrypted messages, and thus to anticipate the Nazis' moves. "U-571" joins a hearty band of American sailors as they board a disabled Nazi U-boat (posing as Nazis themselves) to get an Enigma. The mission is a success, but before the Americans can get back to their ship, it is destroyed by a nearby German vessel, and their captain is killed. The remaining sailors take over U-571, and, with untested Lieutenant Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaughey) at the helm, negotiate perilous, German-infested waters to get the Enigma back into safe hands.
It's a neat plot, but it's basically unimportant to the film's success (the Enigma, in fact, is barely mentioned after it's captured). The real meat of the film lies in the action sequences, which are handled by director Jonathan Mostow with smooth, energetic efficiency. As the sub is bombarded from above with depth charges, as the boat boldly draws down on a German destroyer's radio tower, the tension and excitement are rich and honest. This is greatly enhanced by the film's tremendously handled sound and some truly impressive effects work. Often, we are quick to praise films like "Star Wars" which bombard us with unusual sights and sounds, and we neglect films like "U-571", which use Hollywood's technical magic to bring the real back to life (besides, if you got a Gungan wrong, how would anyone know?).
"U-571" is not a film without its problems. The picture's a bit slow-going at first, and the action during the taking of the U-boat is so frenetic that it's often hard to lose track of the action. Don't feel too bad, though, because the film has the same problem; Jon Bon Jovi's character vanishes without a trace about an hour into the picture, and for the life of me, I can't remember what happens to David Keith's intelligence officer (I assume he is killed; if anyone remembers this, please drop me a line). It doesn't help that a number of the film's young actors look an AWFUL lot alike. Still, working against these obstacles, there are a number of nice performances, with McConaughey making an effective transformation from petulant sailor to gung-ho captain, and Harvey Keitel and Keith doing effective work. Mostow (along with co-writers Sam Montgomery and David Ayer) are also wise enough to know that you don't always need a tremendous amount of backstory to set up character. Sometimes seeing how people handle the situations they find themselves in is all it takes.
"U-571" is not a great war film, but it's an effective and engaging thriller, and I think audiences will enjoy it a great deal as long as they're not expecting the "Saving Private Ryan" of submarine movies.