Way below the standard of recent WWII films

Rating: Null/10 (1 December 2002)

I'm reviewing this action film because it's showing on cable right now and I'm reminded what a piece of throwback garbage it is. I won't comment at all on the effects, because the state of the art is good enough for all but critical professional eyes. I also won't comment on technical errors concerning the Kriegsmarine, its U-boats and their crews. Why bother? There are always some artifices necessary to convey the central plot situation, in this case a depiction of the Allies' capture of vital information about German naval codes.
No--what I'm talking about is the fact that historical standards for a film of this kind have gone way up. Need I mention recent titles? This film distorts or invents on most major points, especially those of who captured which vessels. That's been covered elsewhere and in detail, and I don't blame the British or the Germans for heaping scorn on the film. The treatment of the Enigma machine itself, about which many have heard, but most are still ignorant, was likewise so simplistic as to be worthless for anyone but a 12-year-old.
Today we are sophisticated enough to make movies that both entertain and inform. It's too bad this film does barely half the job.