This Movie Needed a Technical Advisor!

This film was entertaining as a fictional story, but not remotely close to anything that ever actually happened, or could have. My problem as a viewer is that my father was a WWII U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer in the equivalent position in combat as the character played by William Macy, and who served for 41 years. Macy is a fine actor but is tragically miscast as the Chief of the Boat. I grew up around these men, and they all were rough, tough SOB's, not the sensitive type that Macy plays so well in other movies. Growing up as a Navy brat, I just know far too much about the real Navy of that era to believe things shown in the film, starting with even simple details such as the unkempt facial hair on an Admiral in an opening scene, to the supposed assignment of a young Lieutenant Commander who looks like he is in his 20's as the CO of a combat submarine during war time, without first being an Executive Officer on submarines, where he would have learned his job. This lack of realism continues throughout the film in the dress and grooming of the U.S. Navy sailors shown on the submarine, as well as the lack of discipline displayed. Once you get into the particulars of the plot, things don't get much better and the lack of realism continues to get in the way. You won't notice it if you don't know anything about history or the military, but if you do you may not be able to finish this film. Finally, near the end of the movie, the Chief's refusal to follow a direct order to secure the Enigma Machine from the German U-Boat prior to leaving it would have been tantamount to actual treason in time of war and could have cost thousands of American lives. No real-life Navy Chief would have acted that way, even if he had made an agreement to scuttle the enemy boat. He'd have taken the machine. The scene in the end where a Master Chief Petty Officer has a private meeting with an Admiral is about as realistic as me getting an appointment to see Donald Trump for coffee, and Macy's character visiting a Nazi POW is likewise pretty unrealistic, if his career in the WWII Navy meant anything to him. So, in review, if you dug that historical abomination of a film in 2001 called Pearl Harbor, you will love this movie. If you have ever cracked a history book, or know anything about the U.S. Navy in WWII, you'll hate it. There is a reason this film cost $5 million bucks to make but only sold $64 thousand dollars worth of tickets. They should have spent some of that money on a technical advisor.

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