Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Jackson Booth-Millard I remember hearing the title of this film, I recognised it was something to do with a submarine or ship, but I was also attracted to it by the all-star cast in it, directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Surrogates). Basically set in World War II, allied forces have been having trouble against the German Navy, especially their U-Boats, because of their highly sophisticated cipher machines and the Enigma code. One German U-Boat is damaged and awaits assistance, the Americans decide that this incidence is an opportunity for them to get the cipher machine. So they have a submarine made up to resemble a German U-Boat, it is called U-571, and they plan to pretend to be the ship sent to assist the damaged U-Boat, to take control and take the machine and destroy it. Lieutenant Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaughey) takes command of U-571, after Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) is seriously wounded during a torpedo attack on his ship, other crew members include Chief Gunner's Mate Henry Klough (Harvey Keitel), and Lieutenant Pete Emmett (Jon Bon Jovi). Everything goes according to plan, they get the machine and are ready to leave, but out of nowhere they are torpedoed by a German relief ship, initially Dahlgren did not feel Tyler was ready to make tough decisions, now that he is commanding he and the survivors must do whatever it takes tor survive. Also starring David Keith as Major Matthew Coonan, King Kong's Thomas Kretschmann as Captain-Lieutenant Gunther Wassner, Homeland's Jake Weber as Lieutenant Hirsch, Jack Noseworthy as Seaman Bill Wentz, Tom Guiry as Seaman Ted 'Trigger' Fitzgerald, Will Estes as Seaman Ronald 'Rabbit' Parker and Final Destination 2's Terrence 'T.C.' Carson as Steward Eddie Carson. The cast of Americans are all alright, but you cannot believe the story, because it was the British who got hold of the Enigma cipher machine, it is definitely a fictional story, this is essentially just popcorn fodder, nonsense, but with plenty of exciting explosions and engaging enough underwater battle sequences, a reasonable Second World War action thriller. It won the Oscar for Best Sound Editing, and it was nominated for Best Sound. Worth watching!

edwagreen Nice seeing Will Estes, Jaime of television's Blue Bloods in a minor role in this film.I think that the film basically torpedoes itself with the constant barrage of firing. Naturally, the scenes are confined to the ships whether they be above or below the ground and this is always a disadvantage to film viewers.Matthew McConaughey plays the guy who was told by his superior that he isn't ready to head a naval ship only for the one to tell him this dies on board and Matt steps up to the helm. Notice those bulging eyes of his as he directs the men to follow his orders. Harvey Keitel plays one of the men on board who is fiercely loyal to McConaughey and urges the others to do so. Interesting to see how McConaughey tells the men that we're not running a democracy here and they're to do what he tells them to do. The film becomes essentially a cat and mouse game with the Americans over powering a Nazi submarine while attempting to get a valuable recorder used by the Germans to communicate with Berlin.

taz1004 This is not a historical film or even based on a true story. It simply is WW2 themed action flick. For that, it is very good film. I don't understand why some reviews criticize for historic values. That's like expecting historical accuracy from James Bond series.The movie is well acted, well scripted and well told. Actions are not over the top and although some explosion effects looked fake, it doesn't take away from the story.Matthew McConaughey is sometimes criticized for his acting early in his career but I actually think he did a very good job portraying the young inexperienced captain in this movie.

quincymd This "movie" is no worth seeing. Historical errors are the stars, Special Effects are ludicrous, and the acting of the cast is repulsive. Pistols with endless rounds of bullets, machine guns which only wound or kill the bad guys, commandos who board a German ship without knowing a word of German language, torpedoes that miss their targets. etc. This is not a movie about a historical fact, but only a low quality adaptation of a novel. It isn't even a comedy. It doesn't deserve the qualification of "1" but there is no possible way to give it a negative value. My advice: If this is the only movie to see, switch the TV off and grab a good book. At least the later is an environment-friendly attitude.