U-571
Universal, 2000
Directed by Jonathan Mostow

$$$1/2

Hollywood continues its return to the battlefields of World War II. This time, the battlefield is the waters of the North Atlantic. The year is 1942. The movie -- an intelligent, non-stop action, thriller called U-571.

Matthew McConaughey plays Lt. Andy Tyler, the Executive Officer of an American submarine who's been passed-over for his own command. But he soon gets his own sub -- the hard way.

Tyler is chosen to help lead a small number of his sailors on a "Trojan Horse" operation: their mission -- sneak aboard a crippled German U-boat, posing as a repair crew and steal a top secret decoding device. Success will allow the Allies to crack the German code -- and win the war. Naturally, all does not go as planned and Tyler and his men are forced commandeer the Nazi boat when they're unable to return to their own American sub. Now they have to figure out how to work the enemy boat -- and sail themselves past other German ships without letting on that they're really Americans. But Tyler's biggest test is learning how to lead men -- and learning that being a captain means sacrificing a close crew member's life at a moment's notice.

The leader behind the scenes -- writer/director Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown) -- has an excellent eye and uses the camera very effectively to create a clear, taut movie with solid visuals. He's also aided by some terrific special effects -- the underwater shots are realistic without being as murkily incomprehensible as those in the otherwise terrific The Hunt For Red October a decade ago.

But some of the most effective moments don't involve elaborate visuals at all -- but rather the sight of sailors grabbing onto anything they can to hold steady as the sub is rocked by deafening off-camera explosions from enemy depth charges -- each explosion coming closer, each one louder than the one before, each one rattling the boat more and more.

(c) Copyright 2000