Lavish Attention to Detail Spoiled by Weak Story

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2000)

I saw "U-571" when it first came out in 2000 and posted the following comment:
"I was deeply impressed by the uniforms worn by the U.S. Navy personnel in "U-571." They appeared to be absolutely authentic. I was, alas, a lot less impressed by the story. The heroic sailors in this epic had enough adventures for an entire war. A strong ability to suspend disbelief is needed for one to enjoy this movie. Nevertheless, the special effects were excellent and my seven year-old grandson loved it."
I recently saw it again on Universal HD and thought that I would extend my earlier comments. First, the 5.1 soundtrack is outstanding. In fact, its sound effects won the Oscar and it was nominated for its overall sound, too. The appearance of the film in high definition was also marvelous.
Its weakness was how badly miscast its star, Matthew McConaughey, was. He is wonderful in light romantic comedies, where his charm and good looks can effectively be brought to bear. Here, though, he plays a hard-bitten careerist naval officer with a skinhead hair cut and no sense of humor. He simply lacked the chops to pull it off. An action hero McConaughey is not.
Bill Paxton was equally miscast but that didn't do too much damage because of his relatively small role. He plays the captain of a submarine that is on a super-secret mission to retrieve the Enigma code machine from a disabled German U-boat. The always reliable Harvey Keitel plays the chief of the boat and, as usual, is very effective.
The photography of the scenes inside the submarines was well done but, it seemed to me, derivative of Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot." Still, the action sequences at sea were very well done.
Six out of ten.