A DVD FLASHBACK: U-571 (Universal/StudioCanal) [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

PDA

View Full Version : A DVD FLASHBACK: U-571 (Universal/StudioCanal)



Lexmark3200
09-28-2005, 09:13 AM
It is simply ironic that Mr. Dean Martin recently begun a topic in here about Das Boot and I went ahead and took this U-Boat-themed title off my shelf last night to revisit......

Jonathan Mostow's U-571 is simply one of those titles that continues to show up on home theater "demo lists" for DVDs which can show off a system's capabilities to its finest -- and for very good reason. It's not particularly an accurate film -- in fact, although based on World War II-era "truths" regarding the capturing of an Enigma encoding machine used by the Germans, it is purely fiction in terms of its plot. Mostow (Breakdown, Terminator 3) suggests (although end credits clear this up rather well) through the telling of this film that the United States was pivotal in capturing these secret communication devices the Nazis were utilizing aboard their "U-Boat" submarines, costing the States many losses during the ocean battles of the war.....in reality, it was mainly British forces that captured these devices and not in any fashion depicted in Mostow's film. Yet, it still entertains as a great action set piece, and we get some good acting here from a roster of stars -- Matthew McConaghey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel and even Jon Bon Jovi shows up in U-571. I was hooked on this film the moment I came out of the New York City theater I first saw it in with an ex of mine, and Universal's DVD presentation of the title still wows home theater enthusiasts to this day -- amidst all the dozens upon dozens of other DTS-encoded titles which have been released since. Running this film in DTS mode through your surround system is what home theater is all about -- but I will get to that in a brief time.

Universal's initial "Collector's Edition" of this disc remains one of Home Theater Magazine's Top DVDs of All Time in terms of audio, and since that initial pressing, Universal has changed the artwork a bit on subsequent releases, yet nothing technical has changed. That's a good thing, because the DTS mix on this disc is simply spine-tingling and remains so all these years later. The disc comes loaded with a good deal of extra materials and still remains a stunner, audio and video wise, considering all this is stuffed onto a single dual-layer disc. Just this evening, being an absolute sucker for submarine films, I took this title out of my library to re-visit in DTS, and figured I would share my results. Mostow, with some obvious nods to Das Boot, tells the story of an American submarine crew during World War II which are on a secret mission to capture an "Enigma encoding device" which was a communication method the Nazi U-Boat submarines were using to take advantage of the seas during the war, sinking countless Allied battleships and other subs. The film opens with a rather long subtitled sequence aboard a German U-Boat which is attacked by a British destroyer and damaged, and who send out a message for help. In the meantime, Bill Paxton portrays a U.S. submarine captain who is given the mission by the Navy of capturing the Enigma device that's aboard this crippled German sub who has sent for help -- a secret plan is hatched whereby the Americans must pose as Germans, with a fake U-Boat and all, in order to board this crippled German sub and take it over in order to capture the Enigma. Matt McConaughey plays Paxton's executive officer who wanted a command of his own, but whom Paxton doesn't feel is ready. Rounding out Paxton's crew (amongst other younger enlisted men) are chief Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi (actually turning in a decent, if brief, role). Once the mock U-Boat with the American soldiers onboard (who have had their Liberty Pass cut short for this emergency mission) is put to sea, the Naval Intelligence officers onboard for the mission inform the crew of their task at hand: they are to meet up with the crippled German sub, pretending to be a German resupply sub, and then take by force the crippled sub in order to steal the Enigma device. However, while rather successful up until a certain point, the Germans onboard the damaged sub catch some of the American soldiers pretending to be Germans hiding machine guns under their rain coats and call their bluff -- a massive gunfight ensues, of which the American soldiers are successful in taking over the German sub, but a massive problem arises: somehow (which is never made clear to us) another German U Boat has been made aware of the American spies trying to capture this other U Boat and attacks the mock American U Boat, firing a torpedo and destroying it, instantly killing captain Bill Paxton. We must assume that during the gunfire between the American and German soldiers aboard the sub, one of the radio officers must have shot off a message to this other German sub and informed them what was going on. Now, instead of scuttling and destroying the German crippled sub they have stolen the Enigma from, McConaughey and the remaining crew must use this crippled German U Boat in order to escape the other attacking German sub.

Chaos ensues amongst the men, as they are desperate to dive the sub and get away from the other German sub as fast as they can, but everything in the sub is written in German, and only two of the crew can read and understand the language -- the men cant be sure exactly what has been damaged on this sub or to what extent, and Mostow builds the claustrophobia and tension effectively here as the men are desperate to get the sub running at any speed. They end up firing torpedoes at the German sub chasing them and ultimately destroying them, and then the remainder of the film finds these American submariners fighting their way back through enemy waters patrolled by Germany's surface destroyers, planes and U Boats. Their major problem comes in the form of a Nazi battleship that discovers the crew of this U Boat are not German and begin an attack on the sub -- but the American soldiers fire a cannon into the battleship's radio tower, instantly destroying any chance of the Germans communicating back to headquarters what has happened and that the Enigma has been stolen, which is key to the mission.

From this point onward come breathtaking depth charge sequences which this film's DTS track is recognized for -- the Nazi battleship continues to track the Americans posing on the German U Boat under the water, dropping dozens of explosive charges into the sea, attempting to destroy the American crew holding the Enigma device. The tension during these depth charge sequences are quite eye-opening to say the least, as the charges explode, flash, boom and rock the sub the Americans are on with nonstop bombardment which must have been very difficult for Mostow to shoot. The only way the crew can survive these attacks is to get deep enough in the water where the charges cannot reach -- but that's a risk, as the sub needs to enter hull crush depth in order to do that. Keitel, under orders, gets the sub to 200 meters, which seems to be the maximum depth for these U Boats, and they seem to escape the depth charges from the German battleship above -- but the pressure seems to be too much for the sub, and it instantly begins ascending back to surface level. With damaged torpedo launch tubes and no way to defend themselves, the Americans onboard the German sub have a one way ticket topside, where they will be easy, open prey for the German battleship still on their tail. Their only hope lies in one of the officers getting into the flooded bilge of the sub to somehow fix the pressure leaks in order to fire a torpedo at the approaching Nazi destroyer -- without the torpedo, they are finished.

Mostow's U-571 received a ton of negative press, and still does when you read reviews, because it's not really a "polished," accurate film -- but there is no doubt it packs a bunch of action and it's one of the most nail-biting action/dramas I can remember coming out in a very long time; you can actually feel the panic of the men aboard that German sub in enemy waters about to be blown up by a massive German battleship. The depth charge sequences, if cranked up on your system, will leave you absolutely breathless as they are relentless in their attack on your senses -- most notably your ears.....but you continue to feel the panic of the men as the sequences continue, and while not historically accurate to many degrees, I believe this is what makes U-571 so compelling. It clocks in a one hour and 57 minutes, but because of the brisk pace Mostow sets for it, it feels like at least thirty minutes less than that when you're watching it. It really never slows down, and that's refreshing in these days of three-plus hour mega-dramas.

But for every negative thing that can be said about this film's historical accuracy, costuming, language, body actions, what have you, it is still one of the best sounding (and looking) DVDs available on the market -- and if for no other reason than to test your system's DTS capabilities, this disc should find a home on your shelf. Let me explain:

VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS:
DUAL LAYER 2:35:1 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN TRANSFER

Absolutely stunning. There's nothing else I can say about Universal's transfer of this title. There's no dirt. No noise. No grain. Colors are bright and lively. No problems. Let's move on to the audio portion now.

AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS:
ENGLISH DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, ENGLISH DTS 5.1, FRENCH DOLBY SURROUND; ENGLISH CAPTIONS

THIS is what home theater is all about -- don't even bother running this disc's Dolby Digital track. While no slouch, it can't really compare to the DTS mix that's available here. Now, I know folks like Terrence want me to compare the Dolby Digital mixes on these titles directly to their DTS counterparts for these reviews, but I leave that to more "seasoned" people in here, such as Kelsci, who can ascertain the different nuances in the mixes a bit better than I could -- DTS is always my first choice on a menu. Loud. Aggressive. Bombarding. It's everything a great audio mix should be, and Mostow was monumental in supervising this audio transfer, as he was on T3. The mix actually heats up a bit more from, say, the middle half onward, but the beginning is by no means weak. Every creak of the submarines find their way into the surround channels, torpedoes blast from every speaker, every nuance of the environment can be heard on this near-perfect mix -- it feels open, airy and extremely non-compressed, hence it's STILL on "DVDs of All Time" lists to this day.

Of course, as used in demo rooms of home theater install shops nationwide, the depth charge sequences will rock your system the most out of any other scenes in the film -- once those explosions begin going off, watch out and crank this one up -- although I need to warn using caution when running these scenes in DTS: if your sub is not calibrated properly, or is running a bit too hot, these scenes can easily overwhelm your speaker array and possibly even cause damage. If you have your volume up enough (and what's so refreshing about this mix is that it doesn't really require all that much amp power to get going it's mixed so aggressively) these depth charge sequences will shake the pictures on your walls and rattle the dishes in the sink -- however, contrary to popular myth about this title, there is less ULTRA low sub bass here than there is piercing, sharp, explosive mid bass during the depth charge sequences that will pound out of your main channels. Don't get me wrong -- your walls WILL rattle during these scenes......but listen more closely during scenes where either German or American crews are inside a sub and listening for depth charges going off in the ocean around them -- this is rendered expertly in DTS, as the low, thudding booms of the charges will have your sub working overtime, even though it's in a more subtle way. Machine gun batlle scenes explode from the center and main channels with stunning realism -- and you can actually hear shell casings dropping onto metal surfaces in the surrounds at times; the sequence where the Nazi destroyer is firing at the American-helmed sub with their deck guns splinters the audio into the surround channels in such a convincing way you will find yourself ducking for cover in your sweet spot (where we all know you should be seated, right?). The stunningly real rendition of the sounds of diesel engines of the submarines hissing fill the surrounds in a very spine-tingling realistic fashion as well.

From beginning to end, a rousing, aggressive, in-your-face DTS presentation that deserves every last bit of praise it continues to receive all these years later. The quiet moments of this film are QUIET -- hence, open to distracting ambient noises that may enter your listening area; one the action simmers down and dialogue takes over, you suddenly hear everything in your theater that the loud sequences were masking, such as the refrigerator making ice, people talking, or, as was in my case, dogs constantly barking (so loud I heard them sometimes over the action scenes in this film which disturbed me quite a bit -- but that's another story for another day). So just be prepared for that.

BONUS MATERIALS Included:

-Spotlight on Location: The Making of U-571
-Feature Commentary with Director Jonathan Mostow
-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
-Theatrical Trailer
-DVD ROM Features and More

The film concludes, before the credits begin rolling, with a list of actual Allied ships and forces which historically and accurately captured real German Enigma encoding devices during the Atlantic Ocean battles of World War II, most of which, as I mentioned early on in the review, were credited to the British fleet.

While often criticized for its poor plot development and disconnection to actual facts during this time period, this title belongs in any surround audio afficionado's collection if for nothing but the DTS track that's onboard. All these years later, it still mesmerizes and enthralls, and that, my friends, is what this hobby is all about.

dean_martin
09-28-2005, 08:28 PM
Hey, Lex. Thanks for jogging my memory on the U-571 plot. For some reason U-571 didn't have the emotional impact on me that Das Boot did, but I remember it sure gave my sub a workout.

I have one suggestion for you regarding those dishes that rattle in the sink. As long as you're single, use paper or styrofoam plates. They're better than fine china for a bachelor.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
09-29-2005, 03:30 AM
I have one suggestion for you regarding those dishes that rattle in the sink. As long as you're single, use paper or styrofoam plates. They're better than fine china for a bachelor.

LOLOLOL...Good advice!

Lexmark3200
09-29-2005, 09:24 AM
Hey, Lex. Thanks for jogging my memory on the U-571 plot. For some reason U-571 didn't have the emotional impact on me that Das Boot did, but I remember it sure gave my sub a workout.

I have one suggestion for you regarding those dishes that rattle in the sink. As long as you're single, use paper or styrofoam plates. They're better than fine china for a bachelor.

Thank you for the advice, Dean; my situation is a bit different, as I am living with some family members now who have relocated from the East Coast and seeing someone I will probably move in with soon, and Im SURE she wont want her china rattling around.....when I said dishes and glasses would rattle, I was being a bit exaggerating, as during the depth charge sequences, the blasts from my sub did in fact rock the walls and shake "loose" items that were in the media room.

Sure, U-571 didnt have the same emotional impact as Das Boot---thats because its not nearly as good a film, from that perspective. But I thought the claustraphobia and panic that Mostow was going for aboard that German sub where the American boys couldnt operate anything because they were on a strange vessel was amazing,

kelsci
10-17-2005, 07:49 PM
Hi Lex; I note that you lived near Amityville. During the mid-60's, I use to keep my runabout boat docked in Seaford near the Seaford town dock by Captain Eddies Fishing Station.

I watched U-571 some years back. I was not that impressed with the film. However, as I recall, at that time, many were talking about the depth charge sequence particulaly listening to it on the DTS track. It sounded good in D.D. but it was "earblowing" in DTS. I also heard this sequence on two different systems. The DTS always won handsdown.KELSCI.

Lexmark3200
10-18-2005, 10:45 AM
Hi Lex; I note that you lived near Amityville. During the mid-60's, I use to keep my runabout boat docked in Seaford near the Seaford town dock by Captain Eddies Fishing Station.

I watched U-571 some years back. I was not that impressed with the film. However, as I recall, at that time, many were talking about the depth charge sequence particulaly listening to it on the DTS track. It sounded good in D.D. but it was "earblowing" in DTS. I also heard this sequence on two different systems. The DTS always won handsdown.KELSCI.

Hey Kel!!

Great to hear from you again! I indeed lived 15 MINUTES from the infamous haunted house in Amityville, Long Island. Thats amazing about your docked boat in Seaford! I know EXACTLY where that is! When did you move from Long Island to Florida?

And boy are you right --- there is NOTHING --- and I mean NOTHING -- like watching U571 in DTS.....the track is just bright, in your face, loud, aggressive, mean, you fill in the blanks..........

Blows the Dolby track away.......

Hope you and your family are doing well!

kelsci
10-18-2005, 10:02 PM
[QUOTE=Lexmark3200]Hey Kel!!

Great to hear from you again! I indeed lived 15 MINUTES from the infamous haunted house in Amityville, Long Island. Thats amazing about your docked boat in Seaford! I know EXACTLY where that is! When did you move from Long Island to Florida?


Hi Lex; I was hooked on fishing particulaly for Fluke from the mid 50s to 1970. My father bought a 1958 Evinrude 7 l/2 hp motor. Capt. Eddies Fishing Station was partially owned by the brother of one of my parents friends that lived in Queens Village. From about 1959 to 1966, my family would rent a rowboat to fish in Seaford. In 1966, I had a Mirro-Craft 15ft. alum. boat with an Ev. 18hp which I upped to a 40. The rivets got loose in that boat, so the dealer(out in Mattituck) gave me a full trade-up to a 15 ft. Glastron(the same boat company that made the Batboat for the Batman tv series and boats used in one or two of the James Bond movies). Great Boat. Docked it by Capt. Eddies but my father and I would trail it to Stony Brook, Pt. Jefferson, Three Mile Harbor and some other places I can't think of offhand. I had to come down to Fla. to finish school, so I sold the boat in 1969 and came to Fla. that year. I never got back into the fishing thing down here too much. It was expensive back then and phrohibative now. It is getting dangerous to live here if the hurricane situation gets out of hand. I may know in a few days just how out of hand it may get depending on what Wilma does. Take care Lex. KELSCI.

Lexmark3200
10-19-2005, 09:14 AM
[QUOTE=Lexmark3200]Hey Kel!!

Great to hear from you again! I indeed lived 15 MINUTES from the infamous haunted house in Amityville, Long Island. Thats amazing about your docked boat in Seaford! I know EXACTLY where that is! When did you move from Long Island to Florida?


Hi Lex; I was hooked on fishing particulaly for Fluke from the mid 50s to 1970. My father bought a 1958 Evinrude 7 l/2 hp motor. Capt. Eddies Fishing Station was partially owned by the brother of one of my parents friends that lived in Queens Village. From about 1959 to 1966, my family would rent a rowboat to fish in Seaford. In 1966, I had a Mirro-Craft 15ft. alum. boat with an Ev. 18hp which I upped to a 40. The rivets got loose in that boat, so the dealer(out in Mattituck) gave me a full trade-up to a 15 ft. Glastron(the same boat company that made the Batboat for the Batman tv series and boats used in one or two of the James Bond movies). Great Boat. Docked it by Capt. Eddies but my father and I would trail it to Stony Brook, Pt. Jefferson, Three Mile Harbor and some other places I can't think of offhand. I had to come down to Fla. to finish school, so I sold the boat in 1969 and came to Fla. that year. I never got back into the fishing thing down here too much. It was expensive back then and phrohibative now. It is getting dangerous to live here if the hurricane situation gets out of hand. I may know in a few days just how out of hand it may get depending on what Wilma does. Take care Lex. KELSCI.

Wow, all those Long Island and Queens referfences make me nostalgic as I know where EVERY one of them are.....I hope the hurricane season does not find you or your loved ones....take care as well, my friend!