Rises above its flaws to deliver non-stop action

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2000)

A writer/director can take only so much artistic license before a story that is supposedly truth-based turns into a sham. Jonathan Mostow runs dangerously close to that line. The list of inaccuracies and improbabilities in this film is lengthy. As has been noted numerous times, the British and not the Americans cracked the enigma code. There were no blacks serving with whites on submarines, due to the segregation policy of the U.S. military before 1946. The Germans were not evil, cold-blooded killers who strafed unarmed survivors. The likelihood of a single torpedo hitting a ship showing only a bow profile is astronomically low, etc., etc., etc..
If you put aside the fact that this was pure fantasy rather than fact-based fiction, this film was great entertainment. The story was engrossing, the action was non-stop and the suspense was extremely well done. Mostow uses every submarine film device ever invented and gives the crew a continual flow of crises to solve. Yes, it smacked of U.S. nationalism to a fault and the music was so insipidly patriotic it became corny. However, though this was a shamelessly derivative work, it was intense and twisty with great special effects, and that made it worth watching.
Many people have compared this film with `Das Boot', concluding that this film pales by comparison to that classic. `Das Boot' is one of my all time favorite films, but I really don't think you can compare the two. They were really telling completely different types of stories. `Das Boot' was a highly realistic character study and `U-571' was a fantasy action/adventure flick. The only thing that they had in common was the fact that they each took place inside a German submarine.
The acting was nothing special, but in defense of the cast, the film wasn't really about the characters so they didn't have much to do except look tense. The best performance was delivered by Harvey Keitel as Chief Klough, the old sea dog who held the crew together. Matthew McConaughey was hollow and wooden. This was not one of his better performances.
Despite a long list of grievances, this film still delivers high power entertainment and rises above its many flaws. I rated it a 7/10. Be prepared to suspend a ton of disbelief and then enjoy the ride.