This movie is neither as amazing or terrible as everyone seems to make it out to be.
Let's talk what stinks about this movie. The editing, for one, and huge chunks of the script for another. Macy's strange wife-vision scenes are not only badly placed, they're useless. Cutting them out of the movie and establishing a better relationship between the two at the beginning might have been a wiser choice, if they were necessary at all.
As far as realistic goes, this is no Das Boot. If it went for historically accurate U-Boat operations, it's not awful but it is far from perfect. The German crew does speak German, which is refreshing. Some of the line delivery from more minor actors was off. The music is a little cheesy, and I had a personal gripe with the large Nazi flag hanging behind the second German boat in the climax, as if to say "these Germans are the BAD Germans. It's okay if they die." It was a little heavy handed for a movie that's about...
...cooperation between enemies. Let's talk what's good about this movie, and that's the message. As much as I love films like Saving Private Ryan, little irks me more in war movies than the the Americans portrayed as the gung-ho patriotic heroes and all Germans as evil redshirts who can't hit anything with their guns and just wait around to be slaughtered. Though they do their civic duty and begin as the "bad guys", In Enemy Hands, much like films such as War Horse and Stalingrad (1993), portrays them as human. The German crew in this film are made up of both loyal sympathizers to the German cause who will go so far as mutiny to kill the Americans that they hate, and men like the Captain who are just tired of the war and want to get everyone home safe at the end of the day. Perhaps the most realistic is Ludwig, who dislikes and distrusts the Americans but follows his Captain's orders to the letter, is reluctant to fire on his countrymen but in the end saves lives. It is a realistic portrayal of men, not a bunch of swastika-painted monsters who want to make their sausage with Allied children. And through the trials, treason and mistrust, both crews learn that the others are men, as well, and THAT is what is great about this film. It might be fictional, but it is a story that I wish had happened during WW II and indeed, I am sure, at least began to happen in many parts of the world. It's important for people to see films like this at least once so that they don't linger under the impression that every German in the war was a Hitler clone.
As far as acting goes, don't believe what everyone else complains about. Scott Caan was the weakest of the leads but he wasn't distractedly bad, and he wasn't in it for too long. Til Schweiger didn't have to do much to look imposing and Captain-y, and he's easy on the eyes for the lady viewers. Macy was very good in a unconventional role, a normal looking fellow among a rather good looking lot of sailors. Thomas Kretschmann will always be the standout of whatever film he is in, managing to convey a plethora of emotions without Hollywooding it up for the camera. It's worth a watch for his performance alone, and it was good to see him finally survive.
Let's talk what stinks about this movie. The editing, for one, and huge chunks of the script for another. Macy's strange wife-vision scenes are not only badly placed, they're useless. Cutting them out of the movie and establishing a better relationship between the two at the beginning might have been a wiser choice, if they were necessary at all.
As far as realistic goes, this is no Das Boot. If it went for historically accurate U-Boat operations, it's not awful but it is far from perfect. The German crew does speak German, which is refreshing. Some of the line delivery from more minor actors was off. The music is a little cheesy, and I had a personal gripe with the large Nazi flag hanging behind the second German boat in the climax, as if to say "these Germans are the BAD Germans. It's okay if they die." It was a little heavy handed for a movie that's about...
...cooperation between enemies. Let's talk what's good about this movie, and that's the message. As much as I love films like Saving Private Ryan, little irks me more in war movies than the the Americans portrayed as the gung-ho patriotic heroes and all Germans as evil redshirts who can't hit anything with their guns and just wait around to be slaughtered. Though they do their civic duty and begin as the "bad guys", In Enemy Hands, much like films such as War Horse and Stalingrad (1993), portrays them as human. The German crew in this film are made up of both loyal sympathizers to the German cause who will go so far as mutiny to kill the Americans that they hate, and men like the Captain who are just tired of the war and want to get everyone home safe at the end of the day. Perhaps the most realistic is Ludwig, who dislikes and distrusts the Americans but follows his Captain's orders to the letter, is reluctant to fire on his countrymen but in the end saves lives. It is a realistic portrayal of men, not a bunch of swastika-painted monsters who want to make their sausage with Allied children. And through the trials, treason and mistrust, both crews learn that the others are men, as well, and THAT is what is great about this film. It might be fictional, but it is a story that I wish had happened during WW II and indeed, I am sure, at least began to happen in many parts of the world. It's important for people to see films like this at least once so that they don't linger under the impression that every German in the war was a Hitler clone.
As far as acting goes, don't believe what everyone else complains about. Scott Caan was the weakest of the leads but he wasn't distractedly bad, and he wasn't in it for too long. Til Schweiger didn't have to do much to look imposing and Captain-y, and he's easy on the eyes for the lady viewers. Macy was very good in a unconventional role, a normal looking fellow among a rather good looking lot of sailors. Thomas Kretschmann will always be the standout of whatever film he is in, managing to convey a plethora of emotions without Hollywooding it up for the camera. It's worth a watch for his performance alone, and it was good to see him finally survive.