"- Rock das boot! - don't rock das boot, baby - Rock das boot! -, don't tip das boot over - Rock das boot! -, don't rock das boot, fräulein!" ...Hey, it's either that or, "We all live in a German submarine, German submarine, German submarine!"… More
"- Rock das boot! - don't rock das boot, baby - Rock das boot! -, don't tip das boot over - Rock das boot! -, don't rock das boot, fräulein!" ...Hey, it's either that or, "We all live in a German submarine, German submarine, German submarine!" Man, I feel like I actually do live in a German submarine... or U-boat, or whatever they're called, because of all the versions of this film that I could have watched, I didn't watch the theatrical cut that runs two-and-a-half hours or the director's cut that runs "three"-and-a-half hours. No, I watched the "uncut" version that runs just under [b]"five"[/b] hours! Well, all I have say is this: Seriously, how many "running-through-the-inside-of-the-boat" shots can you have? Well, aside from that, all I have to say is das ist mehr als genug Deutsch für eine Weile. Seriously though, this film is a pretty darn good, but one of the greatest war films ever it is most certainly not, because no matter how much Wolfgang Petersen keeps this ship afloat, it can never drift away from its undeniable flaws.
I don't know if its the fault of the editor - such as you can be when you're working with an "uncut" version - and his trying figure out some way to tack on almost two-and-a-half hours to the theatrical cut, or if they were there to begin with, but eitherway expect a couple of cuttable scenes, as well as as some repetition here and there. Don't get me wrong, you'd be surprised to see how much material they can suck out of a story that's about not much more than a bunch of Germans sitting around on a U-boat and occasionally getting into an explosive battle, especially when you can drag it out to five hours and "still" have enough material to cover that, but with something that long, you're bound to get some trimmable fat around the edges. However, surprisingly, you don't get as many scenes that should be cut as you would expect, but that doesn't mean that the scenes aren't trimmable, nevertheless, especially when that's precious time that they could be using for some immediate development, because I think it's more than just language barrier that keeps me from figuring out who these people are. Come to think of it, I don't even know if the characters are so much underdeveloped, as much as they are developed in too familiar of a fashion, that it takes a little while to determine how unique they are, yet even then, we're still getting the occasional familiar spot. Yeah, yeah, I know y'all don't want to hear it, and lord knows I don't want to say it, but the occasional cliche is not terribly far from this film's reach, which is admittedly something that you can say about most every war film of this type, but that doesn't make it any less of an issue, and one exacerbated by some moments of, well, something I'm going to no doubt get heat for: some moments of cheese in the aura, whether it be during an almost overwhelming goodbye sequence between one of the characters and his wife, or even during some tension-killing comic-relief, some of which isn't even all that funny. I'm not going to sit here and lie by saying that I got what everyone promised, because I didn't; just familiarity and looseness that, if flared up a bit more by Wolfgang Petersen, could have made this film magnificent, but as it stands, it's not quite a full-on masterpiece, let alone one of the greatest war films of all time, like most everyone's been saying it is. However, as much as I'd be lying if I were to tell you that I loved the film, I'd be even less honest with myself if I didn't say that I genuinely enjoyed it, because although it's not a knockout, the film boasts much competence, which build with the film, making it darker and more meditative as it progresses, and while that slows the film way down for most the rest of its running time, what ever it may, it gives us tension and grit, but no matter how competent and effective this film becomes, it needs to build up those blocks before it tears them down, and let me tell, Petersen knows how to build his blocks.
Now-a-days, when you hear Wolfgang Petersen, you think "Who?", because his mantastically phenomenal name that his parents deserve to immortalized in stone for isn't quite as big as it should be, but those that do know him, know that he knows a think or two about action, and sure enough, while this is certainly more drama-oriented than your more recent Petersen films, whenever action rolls in, it's staged sharply and explosively, complimented by sharp sound design and genuine essence, creating action that's not only entertaining, but rather emotional. However, it's the non-action-oriented tension in the film that's the most effective, as Petersen is really able to capture the claustrophobia of the environment and the steadily breaking humanity of the characters. All of that is certainly complimented by some excellent and gritty cinematography that, on top of emphasizing the tone of the film, is just plain good-looking and uniquely used, which isn't to say that you don't get tired of those same-old-same-old "running-through-the-inside-of-the-boat" shots after a while, but in spite of that, this is some top-notch shooting, and it really adds to the energy of the film, which is already paced well enough. Granted, this film isn't like a then-future project of Petersen, "Troy", which had such a silky smooth pacing that the over-two-and-a-half hour runtime - or over-three hour runtime, in the case of the director's cut - just breezes by, but the pacing on this film is still slick enough for you to be rather comfortable, no matter what grand length the version you're watching runs. Don't get me wrong, the film reallys slows down once comradery turns into fatigue, but more often than not, that slowness is with purpose and convey the sense of tedium and discomfort felt by the crew, without "actually" getting tedious. True, after this film, Wolfgang Petersen didn't make the smartest films in the world, but he's still smarter than people give him credit for, even now, when he's still getting solid performances out of people (Except maybe Eric Bana in "Troy", because he's utterly irredeemable), so one can only imagine what he did with these people back then. Well, the thing is, the performers... kind of... kill it dead, starting off as not much more than sharp charismas that do a fine job at building comradery to combat tedium, but as the months pass and danger unravels, they transform entirely, becoming anguished, tortured souls that are not only challenging tedium, but death, and watching each and every member of the cast sell that transformation to sharply and compellingly really powers this film through all of its lows, and while that's not quite enough to fully redeem the film for its moderate underwhelmingness, it certainly helps in making it as good as it is.
Insgesamt, due to some familiarity in the script and some forcing of length - especially when darkness first comes in and leaves the film to drift along in a meditative and quite slow fashion -, the film stands as far from as wunderbar as the majority say it is, but Wolfgang Peteresen still keeps the film compelling, all while being supported by handsome cinematography, often boomingly intense action sequences and a wide cast of excellent performers that's chemistry, individual charisma and steady, heartbreaking transformations into the "true" victims of war throw in an extra kick of life to this story, leaving "Das Boot" to stand as a generally enjoyable and compelling epic that's well worth seeing, whether you see greatness or just the still fairly strong goodness that I see.
3/5 - Good
