In Enemy Hands (2004)

When American submarine Swordfish is torpedoed the survivors are picked up by a passing German U-boat but an outbreak of meningitis threatens all aboard.

Director:

Tony Giglio

Writers:

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

Stars:

William H. Macy, Til Schweiger, Thomas Kretschmann

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William H. Macy	...	Chief of Boat Nathan Travers
Til Schweiger	...	Kapitän Jonas Herdt
Thomas Kretschmann	...	1st Watch Officer Ludwig Cremer
Clark Gregg	...	Executive Officer Teddy Goodman
Scott Caan	...	Lt. Cmdr. Randall Sullivan
Rene Heger	...	Quartermaster Klause
Carmine Giovinazzo	...	Buck Cooper
Jeremy Sisto	...	Jason Abers
A.J. Buckley	...	Medical Officer
Sam Huntington	...	Virgil Wright
Connor Donne	...	Lt. Bauer (as Conner Donne)
Ian Somerhalder	...	Danny Miller
Branden Morgan	...	Benny Romano
Andy Gatjen	...	Christophe
Gavin Hood	...	Achilles Captain

Storyline

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. They never made it. Now prisoners of war aboard U-boat 429, a small group of American survivors will find their loyalties put to the ultimate test when they're forced to join their German captors to fight for their very lives.

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Plot Keywords:

u boat | fight | prisoner of war | meningitis | chess | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | War | Action

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

19 February 2005 (Japan)

Also Known As:

U-Boat

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,400,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$64,236

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artisan Entertainment, Splendid Pictures, John Brister Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Interesting coincidence that William H Macy, Lauren Holly, and the U.S.S. Swordfish also appear in Down Periscope (1996) as well.

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Goofs

Several times men are shown smoking inside a submarine, which wouldn't happen in WWII due to the fire hazard it presents. The air in a diesel/electric-powered sub (US or German) would be full of oil vapor and/or hydrogen from the batteries and extremely flammable. Smoking was allowed only on the upper deck for this reason.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Kapitän Jonas Herdt: [narrating] At the outbreak of World War II, Germany increased its U-boat production by 1,000%, mass-producing 17 new U-boats a month. Hitler knew the key to winning the war in Europe was to control the Atlantic. And control it he would. By 1942, German U-boats, working in groups called wolf packs, sunk over 1,000 Allied ships. Their success gave Germany a decisive advantage. They were winning the war. And if this trend continued, all of Europe would fall.

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Connections

Edited from U-571 (2000)

User Reviews

Entertaining, but not the best example of submarine movies

In my opinion there are only a couple of submarine movies that are more than just worth a watch. One of them is "The Hunt for Red October", which was situated in the cold war and the other one is "Das Boot", situated in the Second World War. The last one of the two will always be my favorite, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to see more movies about submarines in WWII. That's how I once saw "U-571", which I really didn't like (read my review if you want to know why) and that's also the reason why I got this one in my hands.

"In Enemy Hands" tells the story of the crew of the U.S.S. Swordfish. They are heading home after being months at sea, but they never make it to land. They are taken aboard the German U-boat 429 as prisoners of war. Because one of them was sick, now both crews are infected and many of them die. The only way to survive is to co-operate and so they join their German colleagues in the daily routine and handling of the U-boat...

In my opinion there are two ways to watch this movie: either you judge it by it's historical accuracy, either you see it as a fictional story. If I do the first, than I can only conclude that this is a very disappointing movie. Why? Well for starters: The German U-boats had their orders never not to take prisoners of war, they left everybody to die at the ocean. That may sound very cruel, but it's very understandable if you think about the fact that these extra people had to be fed and that they would breath the little air that was so needed by the original crew. So if you start with that idea, you know that the entire movie can't be real. And even when it could have happened, than it's very doubtful that the Germans would have allowed the Americans to help them steering their boat...

So let's see it as a fictional story then. In that case I must say it isn't the worst movie ever. At first it is a bit slow, but when the action starts and they have to fight for their lives together, this becomes an interesting movie. The acting isn't bad and what I really appreciated is the fact that the Germans really spoke German and not English with some fake German accent. Overall this is an entertaining movie that is worth a watch, but it just isn't the best example of submarine movies. I give it a 6.5/10