Directed by a Naval Idiot

Rating: 1/10 (5 September 2016)

I'm not going into the main stuff wrong with this movie; see the many other reviews for that. Everything they say is true. But I'm going to hit some small but outrageously idiotic things.
One is the ineffectiveness of depth charges. This movie is hardly unique in this, but it is very bad. Charges are shown exploding right next to the ship's hull, without destroying it. What do depth charges have to do to sink a sub, open a hatch and climb in?
One that bothered me a lot was the part where the U-571 dives and passes under the German destroyer. The sub passes under while descending from 15 to 20 meters depth, and barely clears the destroyer's keel. How much water do these idiots think a WWII destroyer draws? 15 FEET would be more like it. 15 METERS would get you under a battleship!
And there is one stupid thing that is not technical, but just shows an appalling lack of any feeling for the story environment. Preparing for the dangerous mission to board the enemy sub, our hero takes off his big class ring and places it on a shelf in his cabin. Now never mind that a sub in a combat zone is no place to wear a class ring in the first place. The thing is, he's shown pausing, gazing at his reflection in a mirror after he sets the ring down. It's supposed to be a poignant moment, as he thinks of duty and honor and 'will I measure up' and stuff. But watching, all I can think is 'what kind of idiot puts a thing on the edge of a shelf on a sub and expects it to stay there?'
I think all this is not just nit-picking. It and much else go to this movie utterly failing, for me, to 'create and sustain its world.' And that pervasive failure is the mark of a very bad movie.