Harvey Keitel and Matthew McConaughey in "U-571."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film an: Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Harvey Keitel Director: Jonathan Mostow Rated: PG-13, with profanity and war violence Length: 117 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(April 21, 2000) -- "Dive! Dive! Dive!"

Those are tantalizing words for fans of wartime action films, for they signal the arrival of a submarine thriller. U-571 is a crackerjack adventure, among the best of the limited but distinctive type.

It's not the equal of Das Boot (The Boat), the 1981 German masterpiece that forever defined great submarine adventures. That film achieved a rare humanity that puts it in a class by itself.

But U-571 is certainly on a par with such fondly remembered undersea naval yarns as Run Silent, Run Deep and The Enemy Below. And it's superior to a more recent predecessor, 1995's glossy but less riveting Crimson Tide.

Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel and Bill Paxton co-star here as American World War II seamen dispatched to retrieve essential code-breaking material from a disabled Nazi submarine.

Though the saga is purely fiction, director and co-writer Jonathan Mostow uses a real-life World War II artifact as the "MacGuffin" -- the bait -- for the heroes. It's the Enigma machine, a typewriter-like device the Nazis used to construct their secret radio codes.

Securing the Enigma codes was considered key for the eventual success of the D-Day invasion. In reality, the devices were secured by British sailors, not Yanks. The Hollywood switch has generated pre-release bad feeling toward the movie in England.

Allied nationalities aside, U-571 includes several riveting action sequences and generates the unrelenting intensity that marks a good submarine movie.

McConaughey plays disgruntled executive officer Andrew Tyler, working under the disciplined and driving Commander Mike Dahlgren (Paxton). Tyler has recently been passed over for a chance to command his own ship.

As you might expect, fate intervenes to give Tyler the command Navy bureaucrats have withheld.

Dahlgren, Tyler and their men (including Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi and David Keith) sail a U.S. submarine, made over to look like a Nazi ship, to a spot in the Atlantic where a Nazi U-boat is known to be disabled. They hope to fool the Nazi crew into thinking they're German, so they can board the ship and grab the Enigma device.

They also know another German ship is racing to the same coordinates.

All hell breaks loose when the ships come together in a storm-tossed sea. When the shooting stops, the Americans find themselves trapped and undermanned on the crippled Nazi sub, and are soon under attack. Only the most resourceful and daring action can save the day.

As in Das Boot, the makers of U-571 have taken full advantage of modern audio technology -- the film is a sonic gem. From all directions, you hear every frightening creak of a hull under intense pressure, the near or far explosions of depth charges and the deadly swooshes of torpedoes. You'll turn your head more than once.

As Mostow previously demonstrated with his 1997 trucker chase saga, Breakdown, he's a capable action filmmaker. Most of the ship maneuvers in U-571 are clear and excitingly staged, as are the confrontations, despite the cramped quarters on subs.

The film is too fast-paced and busy to give most of the actors much room to delineate characters. McConaughey is effective, though, with the meatiest role, as he gradually matures to command status. Keitel has a few choice moments as his battle-scarred and supportive "Chief."