Good start, bad finish.

Rating: 5/10 (23 November 2000)

WARNING: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!
U-571 gets off to a good start- a group of American soliders are sent to find a damaged German sub, take prisoners and get their secret enigma machine. They get to the sub alright and as they are about to leave, their own sub is blown up. They have to board the German boat and try to get away. These opening scenes are very well done- but it's when the boat is destroyed that everything goes wrong. It takes a long time for the audience to realize who has died and who hasn't. The movie never does make this clear. Then, the entire second hour of the film is the crew bracing themselves for depth charges, and then repairing leaks. It's boring. U-571 is nothing like the wonderful submarine movies like DAS BOOT or THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER- those films make us feel what it might be like to be aboard an actual sub- this one just recycles cliche and cliche.