Good B movie, typical Sub fare, nothing more than that....

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2000)

Oh this one was exactly what it promised-an American Das Boot, B movie style. You get all of the 'tube movies' cliches-sitting silently under a destroyer as it drops scads of depth charges all around, causing much shaking and leaking but little else(think the Enterprise after it's been torpedoed-Everyone lurch RIGHT/Everyone lurch LEFT while the computer banks sparkle...), the sub nearly cracking under pressure, many shots fired and not ricocheting all over the place, interchangeable characters who come and go without you either noticing or caring oh you know the drill.
The F/X are good without being great or overkill, the music is too loud and 'exciting' when it should not be there at all in some places, hmmmm the Germans can't hit the broadside of a barn from inside the barn but we sure as hell can...you know the drill.
But so what? Keitel, McCauneghy, Bill Paxton and co. are old hands at this stuff and do a decent job. Bon Jovi I kept recognizing the face of but could NOT place him. Ditto David Keith (the Secret Agent guy...)...and both kinda vanish.
I thought the claustrophobic feel of the subs was dead on, the wire/tube/piston look to the sets and etc. too. What the Token Black person was doing there I donno-hey he was as alright as the next guy, but you just KNEW they had him there as a token ala Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters. But anyways...
See this if you like:Hunt for Red October, Run Silent Run Deep, Crimson Tide, Das Boot, etc. I give it a good **1/2 rating for being a competent B picture that entertains for its two hours, then leaves, not taking anything with it.
(Those who are whining about it not being a Documentary, Get a Grip/and/or Life. Name me one film about WWII that was. 'Private Ryan' has all the authenticity of 'Combat' or 'Rambo' in places, save for the opening 20 minutes on the Beach/and the finale in the shattered ruins of France. In between is you get to see Forrest Gump leading a pack of Boy Scouts.