the " submarine " genre of movies seems to be one of the most intriguing and compelling types of storytelling there is . think about it . . . these films are completely based in reality , yet only a handful of people have ever been on one , making them fascinating to the general public . they aren't like movies that take place on a plane or a train , as anybody can get on one of those . and they aren't like movies that happen in outer space either , because no one's done any of that stuff yet . when a new one comes out , you don't hear anyone say " ugh , another submarine movie " like people tend to say " ugh , another boxing movie " . look at modern movies that involve submarines : das boot , the abyss , the hunt for red october , crimson tide . . . all are well regarded as top-notch entertainment . gladly joining that bunch is u-571 , which stars matthew mcconaughey as the executive officer of a u . s . naval submarine during world war ii . we learn he has been denied a recommendation for his own command by his superior ( bill paxton ) . mcconaughey's crew then receives orders that they will be boarding a disabled german submarine to steal the enigma , a german communications encoding device that has stumped allied intelligence . the mission goes horribly wrong however , and as a result , mcconaughey and only a handful of his crew ( as well as a captured german ) become trapped aboard the u-571 in enemy waters . the first great thing about u-571 is the film's opening sequence . the german crew of u-571 are under attack , which sets the events of the rest of the film into motion . it's tense , exciting and fascinating . and i applaud the filmmakers for not copping out and instead keeping the entire sequence in german with english subtitles . most movies with a scene this long would have panicked and had the german crew speaking english right away . once the plot gets moving , u-571 gives us action sequence after action sequence , making the audience wonder " ok , now how do they get out of this ? " . the stakes keep raising ( much like in executive decision , an excellent action-thriller ) , and even though the audience knows how the film will end , it's a lot of fun getting there . i only have two minor complaints about the entire film . the first comes from the scenes which follow the opening sequence . while their purpose is to introduce us to the characters and to get the story going ( which they do ) , i feel as though it could have been done much quicker , and less conventionally . i mean , did we really have to see the ship's crew at a wedding ? because of that , you now know exactly what's going to happen to the groom ! my other gripe would be during the film's finale . there's an explosion which ends the film that is one of the weakest looking cgi effects since the president's plane crashed into the ocean at the end of air force one . i cannot stress this enough . . . until a cgi effect can be made to look like a model effect , stick with using models . yes , u-571 is historically incorrect and there are surely some specifics in the plot that people who have been onboard a submarine will tell you " that couldn't happen " , but the overall point of this film is entertainment . it succeeds fantastically . [pg-13]
