An enigma in search of Enigman: blub, blub, blub

Rating: 5/10 (7 October 2000)

"U-571," from writer-director Jonathan Mostow, takes on too much water, along with every submarine movie cliche. It's a great concept, gone under. Set in 1942, the film is intended as an homage to Allied sailors and their underground lookouts, seeking to end the stranglehold of German U-Boats on Atlantic shipping lanes. The Germans' trump card ins Enigma, a typewriter like encoding device, the solution to which has eluded the efforts of cryptanalysts. The secrecy of German coded "traffic" is thus preserved. Capture an Enigma device and you can change the face of the Battle of the Atlantic considerably. A German sub is crippled at sea and is attempting to rendezvous with another, loaded with replacement parts and mechanics. An American sub is enlisted to masquerade as this repair vessel, board the U-Boat and seize its Enigma machine. Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) commands the sub; and Lt. Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaghey) is the exec officer. Tyler has just become an unhappy camper because he didn't get his own command. Dahlgren did not recommend him, basically because, although he's a great submariner, he lacks the hard edge to demand the ultimate sacrifice of his men. Chief Klough (Harvey Keitel) is an old World War I vet. Then there's Lt. Hirsch (Jake Weber), introduced by admiral as really being "The man in charge ... what he wants, he gets." Marine Major Coonan (David Keith), also answerable to Lt. Hirsch, will lead the "boarding party." Then there's Seaman Wentz, recruited by Hirsch because he's bi-lingual (German) ... educated at Brown no les Sounds okay, so far, even with the screwed up organization chart. Sadly, it's Dive! Dive1 Dive! from here on out. Seaman Wentz fears his crewmates will hate him if they learn he's part German; the obviously green American crew receives invisible commando training from Keith; we're expected to believe that German mechanics are incompetent (guess Director-writer Mostow never drove a Mercedes), and one German sailor is challenged by a black American sailor, "Guess you never saw a black man before? Get used to it!" (Nope, guess he missed the Berlin Olympics where Jesse Owens took Gold and twisted Hitler's shorts in a knot; also missed the two Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fights, too). We're not picking nits here. We know the film is a composite of many events surrounding Enigma; but give us a break! Give us a sense of the time. Realize that the subs and the effects of submarine life and warfare on human combatants provide all the drama one needs. Finally, is this a war tale or a coming of age movie? Submarines ... and the most patient audiences have their limitations.