"Heroes Are Ordinary Men Who Do Extraordinary Things In Extraordinary Times."

U-571 is a tense World War 2 action flick. Like all submarine films, the tension is constant due to the fact that men are trapped together in a potentialy dangerous situation. At any moment they could be blown away or sunk.

Matthew McConaughey stars as a disgruntled executive officer, Tyler, who has been passed over for promotion because he is indecisive in giving orders. He is more the crews friend than leader. They look to him for answers but they do not see him as someone who really knows what is going on or what to do when the shit hits the fan.

Their submarine heads to sea with a mission to steal an enigma machine from a damaged Nazi sub, U-boat 571, posing as a German repair crew. A boarding party, disguised as German sailors, take the sub over and send the German prisoners over to the American sub with the intention of scuttling U-571. Another Nazi sub shows up and sinks the American submarine, stranding the boarding party on U-571.

What follows is an abosorbing tale of survial where the crew must struggle to manuever a submarine in which everything is written in German. Not only must they battle German ships but every allied one assumes they are Nazis. From a torpedo duel with another submarine, to dealing with a sabotaging prisoner, to being depth charged by a destroyer, U-571 is constantly in danger. The radio man's announcements of "Splashes." Is enough to scare the entire crew and put you on the edge of your seat.

To add to the drama is the fact that not all of the characters live. Do not get attached to all of the characters early on. One death that is not a suprise is that of Bill Paxton's captain. He dies early on and thank goodness too. His melodramatic call to, "Take her down." is so over the top it is nearly laughable. He actually proved he could act in A Simple Plan but here he has a thankless role.

Like many great war movies, U-571 shows that being a leader in war time is about making very hard decisions. The story arc takes Tyler from indecisive officer to baptised in battle leader. He makes decisions that men in real life have had to make and we watch in suspence, grateful that it was not us who had to make them.

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