If you're looking for a penetrating study of life aboard a submarine in times of war, don't look here. U-571 is essentially a popcorn action film with characters only as deep as they need to be to create some interesting conflicts. But I admit it: I fell for this and loved it. The characters may have been shallow, but they were likable, and maybe that's what makes all the difference. But it's hard to make an uninteresting submarine movie anyway, perhaps because the setting imposes an intriguing paradox: for all the great valor of the men aboard, the depth charges will fall where they may.