Extras: Spotlight on Location: The Making of U-571, Creating and
Constructing U-571, Inside the Enigma, Britain captures the U-110,
A Submariner's WWII Experience, US Naval Archives: Capturing the U-505,
Trailers, DVD-ROM content, Director's Commentary
Director:
Jonathan Mostow
(Breakdown, U-571, TV: From the Earth to the Moon (TV))
Producers:
Dino and Martha De Laurentis
Screenplay:
Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery and David Ayer
Music:
Richard Marvin
Cast:
Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: Matthew McConaughey
Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren: Bill Paxton
Chief Klough: Harvey Keitel
Lieutenant Pete Emmett: Jon Bon Jovi
Marine Major Coonan: David Keith
Kapitanlieutenant Wassner: Thomas Kretschmann
Lieutenant Hirsch: Jake Weber
Wentz: Jack Noseworthy
Trigger: Tom Guiry
Rabbit: Will Estes
Eddie: Terrence 'T.C.' Carson
Mazzola: Erik Palladino
Tank: Dave Power
Griggs: Derk Cheetwood
Ensign Larson: Matthew Settle
What will next door think?
These are the words that went through my mind whilst watching this film at
top volume and you will find out why as the review progresses.
It's World War II and the Americans are having it out against the Germans.
And the British? We're nowhere to be seen as a bunch of naval men led by
Lieutenant Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaughey), Lieutenant Commander
Mike Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) and Chief Klough (Harvey Keitel),
with a fair supporting cast that includes Jake Weber, Jack Noseworthy,
Erik Palladino (E.R.'s Dave Malucci) and even pop star Jon Bon
Jovi.
Their shore leave is cut short because it's time to go back into action
and stop a U-boat full of pesky Germans from getting away with the Enigma
coding machine - that's the same one whose code was broken by Manchester's
mathematical genius Alan Turing who topped himself over pressure about
his sexual proclivities, but in this film the Americans have solved the puzzle
that allows to Germans to position their submarines where they like while
keeping schtum.
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and is
anamorphic. Dark scenes inside the sub looked a little soft, but brighter
moments stood out perfectly. The average bitrate is 6.27Mb/s, often peaking
over 8Mb/s.
The sound IS perfect, without question. From the opening scene where the
German U-boat, the U-571 of the title, is set upon with depth charges, to
numerous explosions and action moments later on, it never fails to impress.
By way of an example, in the opener, the depth charges are fairly quiet at
first as they're dropped from a fair distance away, but as they catch up
with the Germans, the noise climbs to an almost unbearable level and one
that could easily make those with sensitive ears go deaf. Definitely one
of those reference moments!
Extras :
It's self-explanatory featurette-city here, with a 14-minute Spotlight on
Location: The Making of U-571, Creating and Constructing
U-571 (6 mins), Inside the Enigma (7 mins), Britain captures the
U-110 (9 mins), A Submariner's WWII Experience (8 mins) and
US Naval Archives: Capturing the U-505 (3 mins), all featuring cast
and crew interviews, or talk from authority types who have been there and
done that.
Trailers are included for this film and another Universal hit,
Pitch Black, as are Production Notes and Cast and Filmmakers'
Notes, plus you can sign up for a DVD Newsletter at
dvd.universalpictures.com
The DVD-ROM content consists of additional info about the film,
with sound clips and behind-the-scenes interviews. A Director's Commentary
rounds off the package.
To sum up the rest of this disc: 20 chapters isn't enough, the premier sound
options are in English only (same for subtitles), while the French get
Dolby Surround only. The main menu is animated and scored.
Overall, if you want a disc to show off your sound system, sonically,
this one will do for you, but the story certainly won't win any awards.
It's also much more preferable to the UK Region 2
release which not only doesn't include all the extras, has no subtitles and
misses out the DTS soundtrack, but is also, stupidly, framed at a 16:9
ratio instead of the cinema's 2.35:1. However, all is not quite lost since
the matte has been opened up to 16:9, as opposed to simply cropping the
sides.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
