Just like Kingdom of Heaven, Das Boot comes in a variety of choices. The “short” 150-minute theatrical version. A 3 1/2-hour Director’s Cut and then a version that runs almost 5 hours, so long that it was turned into a mini-series. I decided to go with the Director’s Cut which is also presented completely in German with English subtitles. But by design, the dialog is kept to a minimum with much of the story taking place visually. Submarine movies usually become action movies with the action being both above and below the water’s surface.

Das Boot takes place almost entirely in the submarine and that makes it a much more methodical movie. Some would say slower and I don’t know that I would disagree with that but it does make the moments of tension that much more stressful. Wolfgang Petersen has been hit and miss for me as a director but what he did best in this movie was show the relationship of the captain to his crew. These men would do anything for him and he would do anything for them. No matter what version you see, it can be long, but if you’re looking for something different than Crimson Tide (not that it’s a bad movie at all) then maybe this one will work for you.