12/11/2023 0 Comments Commonsensemedia dasbootHis character alternates between giving orders while examining reports at his desk and giving orders while looking at a map of the ocean near his desk, and the role offers little reason for the Captain America: Winter Soldier actor to be in the film beyond an excuse to put his name and face on the marketing material.Īs the only member of the U-boat’s crew that Kessler interacts with in any meaningful way, Stecker’s bitter lieutenant has potential, but it goes largely unrealized in the film’s confusing narrative. Grillo has no shortage of charisma, but the film relegates him to a literal desk job. Outside of Lundgren and Stecker, Grillo is the only other Operation Seawolf cast member with an interesting part to play in the film’s janky, plodding story, but the talented actor feels criminally misused in the film. And as much as Operation Seawolf tries to be Das Boot, it simply doesn’t measure up. Taika Waititi recently did exactly that with the brilliantly dark satire Jojo Rabbit, while Wolfgang Petersen pulled it off decades earlier in 1981’s Oscar-nominated U-boat thriller Das Boot. That’s not to suggest it’s impossible to present sympathetic characters who also happen to be Nazis. That reminder - repeated early and often - is enough to sever any emotional connection with them and their predicament, and effectively prevents any investment in their collective fate or the saga itself. Just when you begin to feel something for the characters, however, all it takes is an offhand “Heil Hitler!” to remind you that they are all, indeed, Nazis. To his credit, his grizzled veteran even manages to seem relatable now and then as he tries to reconcile his responsibilities to both the mission and his crew with his own disillusionment with Nazi ideology. Lundgren leads the film’s cast, and does a decent job of holding up his side of the plot, even when much of the story’s architecture feels as flimsy as a soggy tissue. Race Ingram, the American officer determined to thwart the Nazi U-boats’ mission. Written and directed by Steven Luke, Operation Seawolf casts Lundgren alongside Andrew Stecker ( Come Out Fighting) as an ambitious lieutenant aboard Kessler’s ship and Frank Grillo ( Boss Level) as Cmdr. Sure, Operation Seawolf would be a tough sell even if every other aspect of the film was top-notch, but the flaws in the film go well beyond its problematic protagonists, and ultimately leave this U-boat drama dead in the water. As he and his crew make their way toward New York City in one final bid to turn the tide of war, Kessler finds himself struggling with both the internal politics of the ship and his own sense of duty as the Third Reich crumbles around him. Hans Kessler, who’s ordered to lead the Nazis’ remaining U-boats on a desperate (and likely fatal) mission to attack the U.S. The film, which follows the crew of a German U-boat during the waning days of World War II, casts Dolph Lundgren ( Rocky IV) as German war hero Capt.
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