U571

The Sub-Mariner is probably my favorite of the Combat-Film sub-genres.  I love the way most of the action in psychological rather than physical; the claustrophobic tension. U-571 is a worthy addition to this crop, but I doubt it’ll ever make the list of anybody’s favorite sub-marine pictures. For one, it’s wholly unoriginal; melding the plots of Run Silent Run Deep and The Hunt For Red October into a WWII heist-chase thriller. The object of pursuit this time is the Enigma decoding machine that’s causing us to “lose the war”, as one character points out. (Didn’t James Bond steal one of these things in From Russia With Love?) Actually, the real Enigma was hijacked by the British navy, but… who gives a shit about those kind of historical details! Besides, who wants to watch a bunch of pasty-faced, effeminate Limeys running around a sub for two hours? Instead we get a crew of young US Naval dudes led by everybody favorite bongo player, Matthew McConaughey. We also get Harvey Keitel, David Kieth, Bill Paxton, and John BonJovi, absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of Lt. Nofrigginideahegotkilledfortyminutesago! I’m not trying to pick on BonJovi, here; it was impossible to create a real character in this film, because once it started rolling… who had time for that?

U-571 is pretty exciting. It pushes most of the right buttons in terms of action storytelling. Mainly it never stops long enough for you to concentrate on story points that make no sense.  (Why do submarines always have to “head” someplace? Couldn’t they just stay put at a logical location for a rendezvous?) It was also the loudest film I’ve ever experienced. Actually, Columbia will be hearing from my attorney about that. 

McConaughey (hey!) is Lt. Andy Tyler - not Taylor; a role Tom Cruise was born to play. Andy is an intense career opportunist who doesn’t seem to care much about why he’s fighting the Germans. But nobody in the film really does. U571 is about achieving professionalism. The characters’ highest aspiration is to “just do their job” and Andy must learn to do his as Captain. That job, unfortunately involves sending his buddies to their deaths, but what the hey McConaughey!?

“Professional” pretty much describes Jonathan Mostow’s direction, too. He keeps it all moving along at a brisk pace, gradually building the tension to the point where you really don’t care if you identify with any of these characters or not. You’re in it for the ride. This “Star Wars”, film-as-amusement-park-ride mentality is standard in all big Hollywood releases, but is not really suitable WWII genre pictures; the subject matter demands more weight, more philosophy if you will. The ride does work, however and most of the audience seemed to enjoy it all quite a bit. What I’ll remember from U571 are shots of actors waiting to be hit by depth charges. That’s about all the impact it has, when you come right down to it. Everything else just floats away like bubbles from a sinking U-boat.