Das Boot
Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Wolfgang Petersen's direction is an exercise in pure craftsmanship. [Director's Cut]
  2. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    100
    A great movie just got greater, thanks to this thorough restoration. [Director's Cut; 27 June 1997, p.D3]
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  3. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    100
    Takes all of the drama and suspense inherent in a submarine-based story and delivers it in a near-perfect package, establishing Das Boot as not just a terrific adrenaline rush, but one of the best movies ever made. [Director's Cut]
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    100
    At once a devastating condemnation of war and an exciting action film...The additional running time only adds to Petersen's masterfully bleak, claustrophobic atmosphere. Das Boot is by no means a pleasant experience, but it's an intelligent and emotionally gripping one that you won't forget. [Director's Cut]
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    100
    The most convincing war movie ever made.
    All this critic's reviews
  6. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    100
    You emerge from this experience rather like a returning U-boat crewman -- drained, blinking in the light, but oddly triumphant. [Director's cut]
  7. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Max Garrone
    90
    Absolutely devastating filmmaking that makes you simultaneously feel the glory and the absolute futility of war. [Director's Cut]
  8. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    89
    One of the most suspenseful films of all time, its wartime action setting makes it easy to forget it's also one of the most spiritually righteous. [Director's Cut]
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    83
    Sweaty and claustrophobic, exciting and horrifying at the same time, it never lets us forget we're riding aboard a giant, primitive tin can, a hunk of industrial machinery that mingles the illusion of omnipotence with the reality of a floating prison cell. [Director's Cut]
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    80
    Racing through the sub, squeezing through tiny openings, director Wolfgang Petersen's camera brilliantly evokes the claustrophobia and clamor of undersea battle.
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Edward Guthmann
    75
    A visually spectacular film, distinguished by strong performances and brilliant Steadicam photography that snakes through the U-boat as its patrols the North Atlantic during World War II. [Director's Cut]
  12. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jay Scott
    75
    As torpedoes shoot through the seas and depth charges pass by, carrying their whining cargo of destruction, Das Boot brings the presence of death to within a whisper of the eardrum.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    60
    A descent into the pit of hell with slim odds of ever returning.
  14. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    60
    Unlike Hollywood's hygienic undersea dramas, Das Boot graphically depicts the nasty intimacy of a long mission.
  15. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    60
    The film has no qualities beyond its formal polish--and its careful avoidance (or rather, displacement) of the moral and political issues involved can seem too crafty, too convenient.

User Reviews

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User Score
9.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 43 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. MustisTheCat
    10
    This movie would have been awfully boring it wasn`t as scary as it is. The first time I watched it I had to take breaks because I couldn`t take the tension. The claustrophobia of this film is something really special. We sit in half- darkness most of the time anticipating hull sounds. The story is simple, though it`s just secondary to the main part and that is the Uboat. This tin coffin reminds us of everything we`d like never to experience in our lives. And yet there were real poeple volunteering to serve onboard of those coffins. Right to the end that history showed most of them were destroyed in action. For some reason the German actors really play it well. I mean this couldn`t have been done so good if they were average. Everything is believable here - the effects (as few of them as there are) are great, the submarine external views underwater are outright scary, the music perfectly goes with the atmosphere.… Full Review »
  2. pgmark
    10
    Absolutely the best sub movie of all time.... I could actually imagine the smells and rotten food. Terrific performances... terrific everything!!!!!!!

    This is a must see or you have truly missed something great!    … Full Review »
  3. JD
    10
    Probably the best war movie ever made. Forget garbage like 'Saving Private Ryan'. This movie truly captures the futility of war no matter what side you are on. Claustrophobic, non stop action that literally had me cringing throughout the long (nearly 4 hours) journey. You get so absorbed into the movie, you get to know the characters so well. Great acting, filming, dialogue and music. A masterpiece. 10/10… Full Review »
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