Up Next: Starship Troopers

Late last year I watched the little known sequel Starship Troopers 2, which is a movie easily missed. Last night I went back to watch the original Starship Troopers movie. I’ll be working on my review today, and hope to post it before the weekend.

Review: U-571

Year: 2000
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, Jake Weber
Kaboom Review Action Movie Rating: 74

Plot
American submariners try to steal an Enigma coding machine from a stranded German U-Boat.

Quick Review
U-571 is well above average. The brisk pace, solid action scenes, tight plot, and convincing acting drown out the generic nature of much of the action. I greatly enjoyed watching this film. I say this with a caveat, however: If you like your war films historically accurate, or take offense to Hollywood’s decidedly American slant on history, avoid this film.

Full Review
If you read reviews and comments about U-571, it’s obvious that the movie suffered in the ratings because of its hubristic revision of World War II history. In short, the movie tells the fictional story of some American submariners who try to obtain an Enigma machine from a German U-Boat. In reality, it was first British submariners who acquired an Enigma machine from the German U-Boat U-110. While the movie makes no claims to historical accuracy, many reviewers and viewers felt as if the movie did a great injustice to the British by portraying Americans as the first to acquire an Enigma device.

Historical accuracy aside, however, U-571 manages to get a lot of other things right. This is a fast-paced, action-packed war film. The story entertains well enough, and for the most part stays within its premise. However, there are some moments where the film gives the Americans ample doses of Hollywood heroism and good fortune.

Without a doubt, U-571’s strong point is its excellent action. The frequent combat scenes are tight, well acted, and highly energetic. I was particularly impressed with the assault on the German U-Boat, which was a tense, dramatic, and original fifteen minutes of action. This scene is good enough to qualify as a candidate for Best Action Scene in a movie. There is also good variety to the action for what is essentially a submarine movie. We’ve got shootouts, fistfights, underwater action, and torpedoes. While the explosions and special effects didn’t overly impress me, the film got an Oscar for its excellence in sound, and it’s clear why. Watching this film with a good sound system is a treat.

Although the action drives this quality of this film, U-571 does suffer from one glaring problem in this area: the cliché nature of the action. I used to watch old World War II submarine movies when I was a kid, and invariably you’d have a scene where the sub goes to insane depth to avoid depth charges. There would also be a scene where a sub would blast debris from the torpedo tubes to fool enemy destroyers. And of course there would be a scene where a submarine, with one torpedo left, has to face off against a destroyer. It’s embarrassing to say that all these scenes are in U-571. With the exception of the added complexity of the Enigma coding device, U-571 felt like a film I had seen many times before. Admittedly, U-571 does a great job with the action, but it’s a shame that most of it is a rehash of old content.

While the script is average, the acting is a notch above most action movies. Matthew McConaughey, as Andrew Tyler, the executive officer of the American submarine, does a noteworthy job in his lead role. Harvey Keitel leads the rest of the cast, and on the whole they do a solid job in convincing us of the severity of their plight.

Character-wise, U-571 is hit and miss. Most of the characters are terribly one-dimensional, but to a degree this is more a result of the nature of the film than it represents an inherent drawback. The film also throws an unnecessary, inaccurate, and negative light on German submariners, as it adds an absurd and incongruent scene where the German captain orders the massacre of Allied sailors in a lifeboat. On a more positive note, the film does manage to successfully develop a sub-plot (no pun intended) involving Tyler’s evolution into an officer worthy of commanding a submarine.

As for our Babes and Hunks scores, U-571 is a movie about men doing heroic things. With this in mind, our hunk rating, with Matthew McConaughey leading the way, is decidedly above average. Our Babe rating is another story. With the exception of a couple of insignificant dancing scenes in the first few minutes of the movie, U-571 has no women in it. The Babe rating is the lowest we’ve given to a film to date, and it surpasses the abysmal score of Die Hard.

Overall, however, U-571 is well above average. The brisk pace, solid action scenes, tight plot, and convincing acting drown out the generic nature of much of the action. I greatly enjoyed watching this film. I say this with a caveat, however: If you like your war films historically accurate, or take offense to Hollywood’s decidedly American slant on history, this film will only tick you off. In such a case, you’re better off to avoid it.

Interesting Fact
The credits at the end of the movie about the truth of the British being the one to take the Enigma were only added to the movie after a public outcry in England.

Score
Pace: 86
Plot: 61
Action: 77
Consistent Premise: 77
Script/Quotes: 62
Characters: 68
Acting: 76
Villain: 49
Body Count: Moderate
Time to First Dead Body: Unknown
Babes: 1
Hunks: 74
Explosions: 67
Special Effects: 72
Stunts: 42
Ending: 65

Overall: 74

Technorati Tags: U-571, movie review, action film, action movie, submarine, Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, Jake Weber, Enigma machine, World War II

Up Next: U-571

This evening I watched the World War II submarine film U-571. I hope to put up my review of this film sometime in the next day or two.

Review: Starsky & Hutch

Year: 2004
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dog, Vince Vaughn

Plot
Undercover cops David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson go after a drug lord.

Comments
I have vague recollections of the original television series, but it’s clear that the movie Starsky & Hutch has little resemblance to the original series. Starsky & Hutch, the movie, emphasizes humor, whereas the television series was more action-oriented. We’re left with a comedy that barely qualifies as an “Action Movie”. Overall, this movie has some entertaining moments, but in many ways falls short.

Rather than find actors to fit the original characters of Starsky and Hutch, the producers built characters around the acting of straight man Ben Stiller (Starsky) and easy-going Owen Wilson (Hutch). A large part of the entertainment comes from the interaction between the two actors, as they bicker and bumble along in their pursuit of drug lord Reese Feldman. This is both good and bad. The good part is that their interaction can at times be quite entertaining, and some scenes in the movie brought some good chuckles.

The bad part is that I felt like I’ve seen these characters in other movies. Even though I’ve only seen a couple of Stiller’s movies, his facial expressions get predictable. He has a tendency to overact. Even within this movie alone, his acting starts to get tiring. I find Owen Wilson much more enjoyable to watch, but his character as well seems almost identical to roles he’s played in other movies. If you’re a fan of these actors, you’ll likely find this enjoyable. If you’re looking for something different, you’ll likely be disappointed.

The pace in the movie suffers because of this emphasis on character interaction. The movie starts out fine, and I was surprised at the halfway point how much I was enjoying things. But things start to get repetitive, and there isn’t enough story, humor, or action to keep the back half of the movie interesting. In so many areas, the movie just needed to be better. The script needed to be better. Ben Stiller needed to be better. Starsky & Hutch just never achieved liftoff for me.
With regards to acting, the end result is decidedly average. No one is horrible. Stiller, with all his mentioned faults, can still deliver some great lines. Wilson adds some value here. I especially liked Snoop Dog as Starsky & Hutch’s helpful informant Huggy Bear. He comes across ultracool, and this fits the role perfectly. Kudos here. As a villain, Vince Vaughn does a respectable job, but his character is so stereotypical that there isn’t much room to work with.

If you’re going to make a mediocre action-comedy, you should at least spice it up with some decent action to distract us, but Starsky & Hutch disappoints in this regard as well. There simply isn’t a lot of action. We’ve got no special effects, some minor stunts, and one big explosion. There are a few car chases, which were the hallmark of the television series, but the chases in the movie are tame by today’s standards. Having said that, there is one car scene at the end that is both original and funny.

Pumping up the eye candy would have also been a good way to improve this movie, and in some ways they get this right. Carmen Electra and Amy Smart play two cheerleaders who take an interest in Starsky & Hutch. Electra has still got the stuff and Smart is surprisingly attractive. However, the movie tones down the sensuality for the sake of its PG-13 rating, and both Electra and Smart play minor roles. From the male side of things, Stiller doesn’t help the hunk rating, but Wilson adds some points.

All in all, we’re left with a movie that starts out well, but devolves into a movie that stutters along, alternating genuinely funny moments with forgettable mediocrity. Almost as soon as the acting, story, and humor lift the film up, these same elements drop in quality and weigh the film down again. Even the conclusion does this: we have one original and funny car stunt followed by a blindingly stupid Deus ex machina event that ends the film. Overall, I suppose it’s entertaining enough, but for me its positives didn’t quite overcome the negatives. If a short, light film is what you are looking for, this may work. Otherwise, skip it.

Fun Fact
The original Starsky and Hutch from the TV series make a cameo appearance at the end of the film.

Related Reviews: Night at the Museum

Score
Pace: 53
Plot: 48
Action: 22
Consistent Premise: 72
Script/Quotes: 42
Characters: 63
Acting: 52
Villain: 49
Body Count: 3
Time to First Dead Body: 2 minutes
Babes: 28
Hunks: 57
Explosions: 17
Special Effects: 3
Stunts: 28
Ending: 33

Overall: 47 (Loses Speed, Gets Tiring)

Technorati Tags: Starsky & Hutch, movie review, action film, action movie, comedy, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dog, Vince Vaughn, Carmen Electra, Amy Smart

Up Next: Starsky & Hutch

I watched this DVD, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, last night for a light change of pace. I hope to post the review sometime tomorrow.

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Up Next: Starship Troopers

Review: U-571

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