In Enemy Hands (2004)

Director:

Tony Giglio

Writers:

John E. Deaver (screenplay)
John E. Deaver (story)

Release Date:

19 February 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War | Action

Tagline:

Courage, trust and honor. In a time when ordinary men had no choice but to become extraordinary heroes.

Plot:

At the height of Hitler's infamous U-boat war, the crew of the U.S.S. Swordfish were heading home after months at sea...

Plot Keywords:

U Boat | Prisoner Of War | Mutiny | Vomit Scene | Sonar

Cast

Til Schweiger	...	U 429: Kapitän Jonas Herdt
Thomas Kretschmann	...	U 429: 1st Watch Officer Ludwig Cremer
Connor Donne	...	U 429: Lt. Bauer (as Conner Donne)
Matt Lindquist	...	U 429: Friedrich
Andy Gatjen	...	U 429: Christophe
Rene Heger	...	Quartermaster Klause
Alex Prusmack	...	U 429: Andreas
Sascha Rosemann	...	U 429: Lars
Justin Thomson	...	U 429 - Wilhem (as Justin Thompson)
Sven-Ole Thorsen	...	U 429: Hans
Scott Caan	...	U.S.S. Swordfish: Lt. Cmdr. Randall Sullivan
Clark Gregg	...	U.S.S. Swordfish: Executive Officer Teddy Goodman
A.J. Buckley	...	U.S.S. Swordfish: Medical Officer
William H. Macy	...	U.S.S. Swordfish: Chief of Boat Nathan Travers
Jeremy Sisto	...	U.S.S. Swordfish: Jason Abers

Also Known As:

U-Boat (Europe: English title) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and language.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-11 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | USA:R | Australia:M | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Artisan Entertainment

Trivia:

The real USS Swordfish was lost with all hands in the waters around Okinawa. The real U-429 was transferred to the Italian Navy (where it was dubbed the S 4), then served as a training boat for the German Navy following Italy's surrender.

Goofs:

Factual errors: While the sub is being submerged, several radio communications (voice and Morse) happen. While nowadays datagrams are possible, consuming a significant amount of time, during WWII subs had to surface, or at least go to periscope depth, to send or receive radio transmissions.

Worth seeing.

This movie is a watchable one. It's not really a rememberable one though but when you decide to watch it, it won't bore you.

When the movie began I was kind of worried. The editing was poor and the acting horrible B-movie like and it had a made-for-TV kind of look. But thankfully all those things improved later as the movie progressed.

It's obvious that the budget wasn't very big since they had to use stock footage from movies like "U-571" and even "Down Periscope". They also used stock footage from real WW II Destroyers and other boats which was pretty obvious at times, it was kind of amateuristic and unrealistic the way it was edited into the movie.

The story is pretty solid, despite some awfully weak dialog at times. It was at first kind of weird that the movie focused on both the Americans and Germans in the same way but later in the movie it becomes obvious why. The movie mostly fails to become tense but still its perfect good entertainment to watch all.

Not a must see by any means but when you decide to see it nevertheless, you will be fairly entertained. And hey it has got William H. Macy and Thomas Kretschmann and some other well known actors in small roles in it, which makes this movie absolutely, very well watchable.

7/10