With a new 4K restoration for this STUDIOCANAL release of U-571, you’d assume they’d have something unique to bring back to life – especially after a 4K-16 bit scan using the original 35mm film negative from Universal for Jonathan Mostow’s 2000 movie. It tells the story of an important German submarine that’s boarded by Americans, disguised as Germans. The reason? They have to infiltrate that Nazi security and try to steal the famous Enigma machine, to help us Allies get some hope in the Second World War.

“She’s old but she’ll hold!”

Now, this sounds all interesting, and it’s got a good cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton (the legend!), Harvey Keitel, Thomas Kretschmann, Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson, Jon Bon Jovi (yup, who does his best), Jake Weber, Matthew Settle, and David Keith but there’s a fundamental flaw which is hard to ignore – given the reality they’re suggesting. And before we dive down into it, this isn’t about reality in films because if we were having that discussion we’d never watch anything again but this is World War Two and Mostow, Sam Montgomery, and David Ayer’s screenplay decides instead to rewrite factual history with their own take on Operation Primrose.

Back in 2000, there’s a chance we’d have forgiven it more but in 2023 the fictitious remoulding of the enigma machine capture, of all things, never really leaves the mind. While here we’ve got a classic case of Americans saving the day in 1942, the truth is that the British had actually seized the first Enigma machine from a different U-Boat (the U-110) in May 1941, seven months before the States even knew, and three entire years before the US Navy actually did something similar to this story – which is a bit of a misjustice and verging on offensive to those who lost their lives before.

While the tension of U-571 is high and the action-drama loud and explosive (quite literally), there’s a host of cliché running through its veins from start to finish. What makes the film stand out a little is committed performances though, with Matthew McConaughey leading the way as Lieutenant Andrew Tyler – who’s both a rookie renegade and wannabe Captain. Helping him on that journey is Harvey Keitel’s Henry Klough – giving advice and thinking twice while others react to the emotion of the situation. Thomas Kretschmann’s Kapitänleutnant Günther Wassner also gives as good as he gets, and brings a little gravitas to the story and situation – for a while.

Melodramatic and heavily scored, although it did win Best Sound Editing at the 73^rd Academy Awards (and I’ll give it that as those elements aren’t too shabby) it also suffers from being funny when it’s not meant to be and while there are serious repercussions for many characters, it dates quite poorly as a whole and you’d only really enjoy it if you like a war film that doesn’t follow historical accuracy, and love it when the Americans save the day – something co-screenwriter David Ayer feels bad about to this day – but I’ll say he definitely made up for that with 2014’s visceral Fury, which I’d recommend over U-571 before the last torpedo takes the latter down.

Truth is, I think they were so preoccupied with whether they could… this one seems unusual to bring back. Saying that, the 4K does look crisp and sharp with the more interesting quality being inside the submarine and underwater. On the surface, literally, it felt a bit studio lit and less authentic though whereas I never felt genuine peril for those involved up top, as it doesn’t quite come through there either. Overall, just a bit disappointing.

U-571 is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD: https://amzn.to/3tggyew