NoFace for Film

Title: U-571
Year: 2000
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel
Rated: PG-13

NoFace Rating: 4 out of 7

I tend to refer to U-571 as one of those historically set movies that feature cute boys. You’ve got Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bon Jovi, and the random other extra unknowns who played seamen. Hee hee. I said seamen. The other historically set movie that I can think of that feature cute boys is Memphis Belle. Cute boys galore.

Anywho, let’s begin the review.

U-571 is the story of a group of American sailors whose mission is to capture a crippled German submarine during World War II. The German submarine (the U-571) is carrying a very precious cargo: an Enigma cipher machine. If the Allied Forces get a hold of this machine, they would be able to decipher encrypted German messages, thus turning the tide of the war. Of course, things don’t go smoothly for the American sailors, and the fun begins.

Overall the movie was relatively ok, but not spectacular. McConaughey is fine as young Lt. Tyler, eager to captain his own sub as soon as possible. Paxton does all right in his small role as Tyler’s higher ranking officer, who doesn’t think that Tyler is ready for such a task. Keitel is also ok as CPO Klough, though I found it a bit hard to swallow that McConaughey’s character outranks Keitel’s.

The supporting cast also did a nice, but again not outstanding job. Tom Guiry and Will Estes are two very cute, younger sailors that had many IMDB fangirls going “SQUEEEEE!!!” There’s a few more supporting cast members here and there, and finally there’s TC Carson filling in the token black role as -get this- Steward Carson. Couldn’t they even have given him a character name different from his own? At least Carson was more prominent in this movie than Cuba Gooding Jr. was in Pearl Harbor. Man, Cuba was just wasted in that role.

The story was also pretty good. It had a lot of tense filled moments, conflict between characters, and also some character building. While the ladies can swoon over the pretty male eye candy, guys can be entertained by all the explosions and gunfire. There’s something for everyone.

As for the historical accuracy of the movie, has been a lot of heated debate surrounding it, as seen in the IMDB forums for U-571. You see, while the movie featured American sailors going after the Enigma, in real life it was the British Navy who first got a hold of this machine, in 1941 and 1942. The Americans eventually captured their own Enigma, but very late in the game- 1944. Many British IMDB members are upset that history has been rewritten through this movie by making it look like the Americans were the first and only country that did this. Apparently in early theatrical showings of the film there was no mention of the British role in capturing the Enigma, and after hearing very angry protests from historians and British alike, the producers tacked on a blurb at the end of the movie honoring all those involved in the Enigma missions.

I understand that it’s offensive to change the story so that it focuses on the American sailors instead, and it sucks that the first time around the British Navy wasn’t even noted for their efforts. But at the same time, it’s a movie. It wasn’t meant to be a documentary; it’s just “based on a true story”.

Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it had, U-571 is a fun, typical Hollywood blockbuster movie to catch on cable. I wouldn’t necessary go out of my way to rent it, but if there’s not much on TV and this is on, just sit back and enjoy it.

Technorati Tags: U-571, World War II, Enigma Machine, US Navy, Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, history, historical inaccuracies