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U-571
Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for war violence
Starring
Matthew McConaughey,
Bill Paxton,
Harvey Keitel,
John Bon Jovi,
David Keith,
and
Thomas Kretschmann
A team of American seamen, disguised as soldiers on a German rescue submarine, sneak aboard a disabled German U-Boat in an attempt to capture the Enigma machine, a master encryption device which has enabled Axis forces to execute maritime attacks without fear of interference or interception by the Allies.
| GENRE(S): |
War
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jonathan Mostow
Sam Montgomery
David Ayer
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Jonathan Mostow
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 24, 2000
Video: October 3, 2000
Theatrical: April 21, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
115 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / France |
Received two 2001 Oscar nominations for Sound and Sound Editing.
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Two hours of nonstop, nail-biting tension and anxiety.
91
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
When the submarine has to dive 400 meters beneath the surface to avoid detection, you can practically feel the water pressure crushing in on the sailors.
88
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The action is tightly focused and well-paced.
80
Film.com
Robert Horton
Highly enjoyable.
80
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
A rip-roaring action adventure.
80
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
It's a simple pleasure watching an American movie that respects genre, knows its limitations, and genuflects at the memory of Don Siegel in the age of Spielberg.
80
Film.com
Sean Means
Fast-moving, watertight and firing from all tubes.
75
Baltimore Sun
Ann Hornaday
Sets up a mood of tensile suspense from the beginning and never lets it go.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Full of old tricks - cuts between worried faces and overheated gauges inching into the red zone - but director Mostow pulls most of them off with conviction and pizazz.
75
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
A formulaic and predictable movie that combines minimal characterization with some irritating implausibility.
75
San Francisco Examiner
G. Allen Johnson
Certainly it isn't about to give "Das Boot" a run for its money - but nevertheless it is irresistible entertainment.
70
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
Not bad at all.
70
Newsweek
Jeff Giles
The script is lame...but U-571 works, thanks to the jittery handheld-camera work, the great, visceral sound editing and a few sneaky plot twists.
70
TNT RoughCut
Pauline Ademek
A thoroughly good war picture that is well worth seeing on the big screen in a cinema equipped with a first-rate sound system for the full sonic effect.
70
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Gets high marks for tension and excitement.
70
Film.com
Ted Fry
One sour note is Richard Marvin's derivative score. It's just awful and often pulls the movie down.
70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
The real star of U-571 is its sheer visceral atmosphere.
70
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
It pulps you, but it doesn't enlighten you.
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Definitely works as an action piece, it's often surprising and never boring, and several sequences had me positioned well on the edge of my seat.
67
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Despite the whiplike pace of events and the compelling realism of the martial effects, the film is dead in the water whenever it pauses to make a human gesture or consider, heaven help us, an idea.
63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
As beautiful as all the film's technology is, it needs more real human beings around - to pull the switches, man the pumps and scuttle through those corridors.
63
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Never lets down, even if depth of character always takes second place to depth charges.
60
Time
Richard Corliss
Flouting all rules of the sea but honoring every war-epic cliche about guts under pressure.
60
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Yet there is so little characterization that when the sub goes down, you may find yourself confused as to which of the supporting cast members lived through the torpedo blast.
60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
It's straightforwardly entertaining and a genuine nail-biter.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
U-571's plot moves like a rocket, never pausing for breath, and this works to a point, but certain events ... are glossed over in favor of more (exceptionally well-done) shots of exploding depth charges and topside battles.
50
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
It''s loud and flashy and fun to look at, but you''ll grow tired of it very quickly.
50
USA Today
Mike Clark
One would be hard-pressed to name another submarine movie that lingers so little in the memory two days after seeing it.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It's still a submarine movie, confined by the ship, the sea, and a convention-laden script.
50
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
A story as creaky as the sub that gives the film its name.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
You can enjoy U-571 as a big, dumb war movie without a brain in its head.
49
Mr. Showbiz
Richard T. Jameson
Just keeps grinding along, pushing its way through a barrage of boom-boom and a sea of tight-lipped clichés.
40
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
Yet another unironic war movie.
30
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
May be the shoddiest and most incoherent piece of big-budget action moviemaking since "Armageddon."
30
Variety
Todd McCarthy
The submarine goes deep but the story never does in U-571, a good old-fashioned WWII picture that is exciting in only the most superficial way.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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