I caught roughly half of U-571 last night, after avoiding it all this time. As an action film it has some merits but as a serious submarine movie it falls short.

Is it me, or is the sub interior too large? Having recently seen Das Boot, where everybody was more or less living in each other's pockets, it seemed way too roomy, especially the bunk scene, which seemed more appropriate for an Essex clas carrier than an S boat but anyway.

The gratuitous "Atrocity" sequence just seems to have been included to engender anti-German feelings, unless Mostow took all his references from those "Commando" comic books. In fact, the film seems to be a parody of sub movies, generally, viz the obvious CGI torpedoes lifted from Red October.

I watched about an hour of the film, then gave up after the torpedo firing sequence as I was becoming irritated.

In short, OK if you like a lot of action and noise in your sub films, or even just pure escapism but not for those who like a touch more realism.

Mind you, Das Boot is still the yardstick by which all other sub films are measured, in my opinion anyway.