The year is 1942 and your biggest fear lies in the utterance of one word-Nazis.
Hitler’s U-boats have become the newest game pieces on the game board of World War II. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy continues to fight with a severe handicap but they desperately strive to crack the complex U-boat radio codes.
Enter the U-571.
Following a series of Allied depth charges, this immobile U-boat now floats stranded in the Pacific Ocean awaiting a resupply ship. The Allies finally have their chance.
Enter the crew of the S-33.
This group of young, ordinary men performing their civic duty to serve their country are pulled away from a wedding celebration not knowing the essential mission they are about to embark on.
The crew including Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) and Lt. Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaughey) gathers at the dock and rushes to prepare the ship for departure in less than two hours.
Tyler, a cream of the crop lieutenant, suffers from a military setback as he has just been passed over for an advancement that would have landed him in command of his own submarine.
Tyler remains true to his soldier identity and continues to perform his duties despite his personal frustrations.
Once on board the crew of the S-33 learns the nature of their mission. They are to overtake the U-571 via a classic Trojan horse strategy.
Inside the U-571 lies a key piece to the Allied understanding of the German codes, the “Enigma” machine.
Disguised as the German supply boat, the S-33 plans to seize the “Enigma” and sink the U-571. The key to the mission is its secrecy.
The enemy must not learn of the Allied Force’s possession of the “Enigma,” otherwise the codes will be changed and the mission will have been a waste of time.
That is, if everything goes as planned.
The unexpected occurs and nine members of the S-33 crew become trapped in the enemy’s submarine with no way home.
McConaughey finds himself as first in command of these nine ordinary men.
Tragedy has brought him the opportunity to prove his worth as a sea captain.
The success of the mission and their survival in the seas of the Pacific lies in their knowledge of submarines, their ability to work together and finally pure instinct.
Directed by Jonathan Mostow, U-571 is a fictional story of World War II heroes. According to the movie’s trademark line, “heroes are ordinary men who do extraordinary thing in extraordinary times.”
While Mostow tells the story of what appears to be a straightforward mission, U-571 depicts just one example of the sacrifices made to secure a German defeat.
While the cast of U-571 consists of several significant Hollywood names such as Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Harvey Keitel, the movie fails to reach the standards set by the classic submarine film The Hunt For The Red October. U-571 took an extraordinary WW II story and made another ordinary action film.
The actors’ lines never moved past standard submarine talk, denying real acting a chance to take place.
But then again, they did blow up a lot of stuff.
