the " submarine " genre of movies seems to be one of the most intriguing and compelling types of storytelling there is . 
think about it . . . 
these films are completely based in reality , yet only a handful of people have ever been on one , making them fascinating to the general public . 
they aren't like movies that take place on a plane or a train , as anybody can get on one of those . 
and they aren't like movies that happen in outer space either , because no one's done any of that stuff yet . 
when a new one comes out , you don't hear anyone say " ugh , another submarine movie " like people tend to say " ugh , another boxing movie " . 
look at modern movies that involve submarines : das boot , the abyss , the hunt for red october , crimson tide . . . 
all are well regarded as top-notch entertainment . 
gladly joining that bunch is u-571 , which stars matthew mcconaughey as the executive officer of a u . s . naval submarine during world war ii . 
we learn he has been denied a recommendation for his own command by his superior ( bill paxton ) . 
mcconaughey's crew then receives orders that they will be boarding a disabled german submarine to steal the enigma , a german communications encoding device that has stumped allied intelligence . 
the mission goes horribly wrong however , and as a result , mcconaughey and only a handful of his crew ( as well as a captured german ) become trapped aboard the u-571 in enemy waters . 
the first great thing about u-571 is the film's opening sequence . 
the german crew of u-571 are under attack , which sets the events of the rest of the film into motion . 
it's tense , exciting and fascinating . 
and i applaud the filmmakers for not copping out and instead keeping the entire sequence in german with english subtitles . 
most movies with a scene this long would have panicked and had the german crew speaking english right away . 
once the plot gets moving , u-571 gives us action sequence after action sequence , making the audience wonder " ok , now how do they get out of this ? " . 
the stakes keep raising ( much like in executive decision , an excellent action-thriller ) , and even though the audience knows how the film will end , it's a lot of fun getting there . 
i only have two minor complaints about the entire film . 
the first comes from the scenes which follow the opening sequence . 
while their purpose is to introduce us to the characters and to get the story going ( which they do ) , i feel as though it could have been done much quicker , and less conventionally . 
i mean , did we really have to see the ship's crew at a wedding ? 
because of that , you now know exactly what's going to happen to the groom ! 
my other gripe would be during the film's finale . 
there's an explosion which ends the film that is one of the weakest looking cgi effects since the president's plane crashed into the ocean at the end of air force one . 
i cannot stress this enough . . . 
until a cgi effect can be made to look like a model effect , stick with using models . 
yes , u-571 is historically incorrect and there are surely some specifics in the plot that people who have been onboard a submarine will tell you " that couldn't happen " , but the overall point of this film is entertainment . 
it succeeds fantastically . 
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