Netflix suggested In Enemy Hands and when I saw who was in it and that Netflix had it at around 3 or 4 starts, I figured I'd go for it. Big Mistake. I don't even know where to begin dissecting this pile of steaming waste, so I'll start with the actors. Macy - cardboard acting, Caan - worst actor of all time and he doesn't redeem himself here, Gregg - too bad he wasn't in more of it, killed off too soon so maybe good for him?, Sommerhalder - please, don't make me laugh and also see previous review on Caan. Sisto - a clown posing as an actor, Holly - awful and too bad they didn't make her do a gratuitous topless scene then I would have given her a slight thumbs up. Til Schweiger and Kretschmann are always good and I'll bet they're still wondering how their agents talked them into doing this. The technical elements are both nonexistent and utterly fabricated. I've walked through a WWII sub, both at the Chicago Museum and at Pearl Harbor. There is barely enough room for two people to squeeze by in passing and your head is always centimeters from hitting valves and conduit in any direction. This movie has 6 - 10 people at a time in any one place with plenty of room to flail about. Come on. As for the Americans being taken prisoner, well firstly it wouldn't have happened. they would have been left for shark meat in the cold Atlantic. Secondly, why a fade to black only to have the prisoners show up already on board the u-boat, naked? How did they get to the U-Boat? Swim, I suppose. I don't know. Then, the crew of the U-boat starts talking of mutiny??? Really??? And they carry it out? Hahaha. Finally, as if it needed one more ridiculous scene, the director or editor gave us this gem - there's a scene where the captain of the U.S. destroyer looks out his ship through binoculars. We get a quick scene of the ocean as if WE are looking through the binoculars, as the special effects must have had an extra $1.50 left over to, I kid you not, black out the edges of the scene frame in the shape of binoculars. I couldn't stop laughing. Don't bother with this tripe.

Recap: Nathan Travers is the Chief aboard the USS Swordfish, captained by the young and somewhat inexperienced Lt Cmdr Randall Sullivan. On their way home they come upon not one but two German submarines. They manage to sink one but is so damaged they must abandon ship. The few survivors are rescued by the second German submarine. However, Sullivan is infected by a contagious disease and soon it spreads among the German crew. Finally they find themselves in a dire situation, prisoners aboard an enemy submarine and lacking both fuel and supplies.Comments: Looking at the cast is enough to decide to watch this movie. Macy is a personal favorite that is cast in a little unusual role for him, in a main character in what resembles an action. Then there is Scott Caan, Til Schweiger and Thomas Kretchmann among others. Great cast, that gives a good performance. And an added bonus is that the German crew speaks German among themselves, makes it so much more plausible.However, the story is not really up to the task. Yes, clearly adequate for a movie but nothing extra. The developments are mostly clear well beforehand and there are no major twists, no real threats. It lacks a little concerning suspense. Still, it is never boring to watch, something happens all the time.A really good movie, good entertainment for a night.6/10

They cant have made any research on WW2 U-boot technology or tactics. A captain would NEVER raise periscope seconds after the last depth charge gone off and neither would he attack a destroyer from 2800 meters when the destroyer is searching for the same sub. Also WW2 torpedoes would never be fired two at the time since the first torpedo would destroy the second on impact or if one of them is a dud, both would be destroyed.They also load the torpedoes just before launch, IRL it took at least 15 min to load a torpedo and while doing it they risked being detected.The torpedoes seem to have modern tracking devices since they always hit on the first attempt and also explode next to ships. Magnetic detonators had a lot of problems during the early war.This is just a beginning of the unrealism in the movie. Compared to Das Boot, this is crap. One good thing is that the Germans speak German.

While there was some redeeming qualities to this movie, I don't think I would of ever bothered watching it if I knew beforehand how unrealistic it was. You'd think the producers have never seen a submarine movie in their lives. The technical adviser ought never to be allowed to work on a war movie again! Again and again and again there were these U boat or submarine torpedo shots being made were the the firing ship has no visual, no periscope view presumably on sound bearings and hitting other submerged submarines repeatedly and at various depths. This just didn't happen. Sound bearing shots could be made but only if either the other ship were large and slow, offering a broadside, or there was a huge amount of good luck for the firing sub.All though the movie you get the impression that German submarines were hardly ever surfaced. They hardly ever showed this and when they did I don't remember once where there were lookouts posted. That was the main idea. Look for the enemy.Finally at the end they portray an American Destroyer knocking out a SUBMERGED sub with five inch guns! This is absolutely absurd! This could not happen. The only time gunnery could be effective was against surfaced ships. U-boats under the surface were attacked with depth charges and only depth charges, unless the surface ship had hedgehogs or some variation of this system. And Hedgehogs were definitely NOT being portrayed here! I think the problem is mostly a lack of historical understanding mixed with an over weighting of creative license. Maybe they also just assumed that everyone else is going to be as uninformed as they are about the pertinent reality.They could of made this a lot better having these things righted. In fact with the mixed language format, and the actors involved and well as even just the CGI business, mixed with the interiors, this could have been a very good film.