Awful.

Rating: 4/10 (29 October 2000)

I like submarine movies. Yes, they have a few clichÃ©s, like the diving-to-below-depth scene and the gunfire-in-enclosed-space scene. I guess it's the suspense of knowing that any wrong move means instant death that makes them entertaining.
U-571 was atrocious. I suppose that there were parts that were a bit suspenseful, but man, I just couldn't get past the acting, the music, the story, etc. Bill Paxton (not Sir Laurence, but generally adequate) could have been a cardboard cutout. Honestly, I think he might have been reading his lines from cue cards. Really. Watch for yourself.
McConaghey should stay away from military roles, and what the heck was Jon Bon Jovi doing, anyway? The poor minor character named Trigger should have been renamed Ensign Smith, as in "The landing party will be me, Mr. Spock, Mr. Scott, Lt. Sulu and Ensign Smith." You could set your watch to Trigger's inevitable demise. Actually, I guess that was another problem -- if you'd ever seen a submarine movie, you could pretty much set your watch to every plot "twist."
And my favorite cheeseball line? "The kid never gave up, did he?" "Neither did you, Mr. Tyler!"
So let's see, horrible, wooden acting, an over-the-top score, a totally inaccurate story equals 4 out of 10.