Give it a try, it may surprise you

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2004)

From the start it was obvious that this wasn't going to be the no-brain actioner that I was expecting. Jonathan Mostow has done a good job at creating a respectable World War 2 submarine movie. The scenes on the bridge were as realistic as any other submarine film I have seen, truly giving you the sense of claustrophobia, especially during the depth charge sequences. The underwater shots of the submarines were surprisingly realistic, the way they reacted to the explosions around them was as if it was really happening, count me impressed.
The true winners of this movie however were the main actors. Harvey Keitel and Matthew McConaughey were outstanding, they really controlled the screen whenever they were on. The supporting roles were all very good, convincing me at every turn that they were the characters they were portraying. The only disappointments when it came to the actors was that Jon Bon Jovi couldn't act and Bill Paxton was cruelly miscast, but fortunately their screentime was limited. The biggest error with the movie was the terrible score that did not fit it with the feel of the film at all. It made it feel comical at times instead of rousing.
I know that a lot of people say that the history of the film is inaccurate because it was the British that got the Enigma encoder first but that doesn't bother me. I can overlook historical inaccuracies when the film they are in entertain me as much as this.
8/10