Operation Seawolf (2022) User Reviews

A wasted chance, and a movie you better miss

[hoschi2k · 2/10 · 9 November 2022]

The basic plot idea does make sense and was considered in reality - so that was a very good starting point. Effects are mediocre at best for 2022, but are good enough to tell the story, and same goes for the props. The only missing thing left for a good movie was a script and some guys to check it for factual errors - and the one script they decided to realise is a desaster. Way too many banal, horrible timed speeches, no real dialog, no story progression.

Sad thing is, if they had developed a simple storyline, told through dialog and the limited amount of props and effects, this could have been a decent war movie.

This makes absolutely zero sense.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 2/10 · 7 October 2022]

This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Calling this a B film would be a compliment, but this barely classifies as a C film. After 25 minutes of watching, I'm still lost as to what is happening. All there is, is a bunch of nonsense dialogue and horrible acting in scenes that simply go nowhere. This was worse than what you would see at a fifth grade drama class play. I'm not sure why this was even made, it is complete nonsense and unwatchable, I couldn't even finish it. It lacks any fluidity, is convoluted, and sloppily written and directed.

I can appreciate it's a low budget film, but having a bunch of random dialogue and scenes that don't even make a story, is pointless. I feel sorry for Grillo and Lundgren, because even they look lost in what they're supposed to be a part of. It's like "look at this, say that, look away" end scene. Lundgren has to walk around with a drink in his hand looking lost and aimless - I hope for his sake there was real alcohol in that glass. It's a very generous 2/10 - one star for each of the legendary leads - there's nothing else redeemable otherwise.

Oh so much potential, but....

[r-garton-913 · 4/10 · 6 November 2022]

This movie had so much potential to be good. God knows they tried with what cash they had to work with. As with most direct to streaming films, this one wastes Dolph's talents, of what he has left. The CGI is marginal and sadly, they really needed a WW2 technical advisor for German uniforms and U boats. They took an actual event then made the rest up. I like WW2 films, even fictional ones if the storyline is decent and the action is beleviable. That means Germans speak German, uniforms are authentic and ranks correct, and vehicles are period correct. This film blows all of this. Pass this one up.

One of the worst Submarine movies ever made.

[OzMovieWatcher · 1/10 · 7 October 2022]

This B-Grade movie is loaded with numerous factual errors and goofs. Rank insignia wrong, wrong uniforms and boots, office and household items that post date WW2, filmed in an obvious American submarine that is supposed to be German and on it goes.

This movie was actually available on-line in full HD, to be viewed on 3rd party streaming site about a week before the official release date. I watched it there and waited until IMBD unlocked the "movie review" link after the release date officially passed.

In all honesty, my viewpoint is that any movie with Dolph Lundgren made since appearing in Rocky, is rarely watchable. He has virtually no acting ability at all in my opinion. If I see Dolph Lundgren appearing in the credits of a movie, I am more likely not to watch it, since I find almost every movie with his appearances to be nothing short of disappointing.

As far as the movie goes, the storyline is believable, even though historically inaccurate. It is correct that Germany experimented with rockets launched from submarines with the intended target to be USA, German technology failed to make such a concept operational. Just google "rocket U-boot" to read about the failed program.

There is one scene that left me cringing.... Dolf Lundgren as a Submarine Captain Hans Kessler is inspecting his crew in a building basement. He says, "these are not kriegsmarine", to which the mariners all lined up in different uniforms, and some not even in uniforms (contrary to strict German regulations), start stamping their feet singing a German naval song, which is an attempt to "carbon copy" the same sequence in WW2 classic "Battle of the Bulge" with the tankers singing Panzerlied. Apart from the naval song not being inspirational to anyone not familiar to it, some of the mariners (actors) are seen with their hands in their pockets and not even singing along, not withstanding that it was sung very badly and out of tune.

Like I said earlier, the story line is believable, but as it nears the end, the story line goes off on an unbelievable tangent.

Overall, the movie is OK to watch if you are bored, but it depicts nothing accurate, nothing historical, nothing suspenseful, bad acting, bad cinemaphotography, I consider the movie as a recommendation to watch, only if your lawn grass stops growing and there is no other more exciting action to watch.

I will not say that the movie is a piece of Krap, but it may well be a significant contributor to that pile of Krap you will see popping up on the sidewalk.

Instead of hiring expensive actors, they had better spent more budget on making decent visual effects

[Erik_Surewaard · 3/10 · 8 October 2022]

I am a big fan of both submarine movies and movies about the second world war. So with this movie - which combines both - I was really looking forward to go and watch it. And with a cast including Dolph Lundgren, what could go wrong?!

Well, the issue is that this movie has several really big issues...

First of all, it is the poor visual effects (VFX) that they used in "creating" ships and planes. You can so easily see that they are fake that you continuously focus on this shortcoming. Honestly, the VFX are of such a poor level that a modern game looks more realistic during gameplay than this movie.

Second, it is the way the actors speak. From the start of the movie they tend to "germanize" the english. And it just sounds so totally fake. Why didn't they chose for a format where the actors all speak german in only the first couple of minutes of the movie, after which they switch to english?! I have seen this exact principle being used in the famous movie "The Hunt for the Red October", another submarine movie where they switched in this way from russian to english.

Third, it is the very obvious mistakes that they make. For instance, they show the so-called "Atlantic Fleet Command"-building in the USA. But you can see very clearly that the building says "Federal Reserve", meaning that it is a building from the central bank. With all efforts that are put in VFX, was it such a difficult task to remove the letters "federal reserve" from the building?! Something like that is even basic functionality in e.g. Adobe Photoshop.

Instead of wasting the production budget on expensive actors like Dolph Lundgren, it would have been way better spent towards solving the above-mentioned issues. Hiring expensive actors and neglecting the basics, seems to be some kind of recent trend. You can also see it with many - if not all - of the movies in which Bruce Willis features. There seems to be group of producers whom just prefer to spend big on actors instead of getting the basics right. And these movies do not even deserve the credit to be called "B-movie"... I think this type of movie deserves to called something like C-movie, where the "C" stands for all the Cash that is literally wasted by using expensive actors.

I should mention that the storyline of this movie is quite okay. This shows that this movie had way more potential if they had just spent the budget more wisely.

This movie clearly doesn't deserve a rating that is even close to sufficient. Such scores (5/10 and above) are meant for movies that meet all the basics. To give this movie still some credit for the storyline, I think a rating of 3/10 is what it maximally deserves. Spending any time and money on seeing this movie is just a waste...

A Submarine Movie Ignorant of All Things Naval

[baronvonsteve · 3/10 · 8 October 2022]

This film is almost unbearable because of its lack attention to basic Naval details. The worst offender is the constant sonar pinging while underway. Any sub operating that way giving away its would be sunk in no time. There would not have been a black American bridge crew in WWII. The uniforms are poor and incorrect. The commands to steer one direction but move the rudder in the opposite is just nonsense. The Submariners might not have been clean clean shaven but the line officers would be. It makes the American Commander look like a LARP'r. During the depth charge scene there is no disruption inside the U boat even after a hit. Other reviews point out even more issues so I will not take the time here.

Added to all the flawed Naval presentation is poor character development and missed opportunities for good plot development. Overall the effects see fair, the acting is average, the plot is average to bpoor, the details are messed up, and the story telling is 100% B movie. I like U boat movies. I'm a sucker for them and usually give them some latitude. They usually at least show some good Naval combat and underwater scenes. This movie fails to deliver. Don't waste your time.

Lousy low budget knockoff of Tom Hank's Greyhound

[ctufan24 · 3/10 · 11 October 2022]

Few things wrong in this film that bugged me from enjoying it much. Most obvious was how they didn't bother making it accurate to the WWII era; such as: clothing, personal affects & even the crew members (like the fact that African-Americans weren't in command positions on naval ships which makes me suspect that it was added to cater to some pc/social nonsense). The film relies on 2 A-Listers to carry it but otherwise everyone else are nobodies. Certain visuals were good but others were just god awful; such as: when a fighter plane opens up on the u-boat the crew on the observation tower get shot at yet no bullet holes on the one shown. This is definitely a one and done film for myself.

Strangely awful

[kadesh-44521 · 3/10 · 8 October 2022]

It's as though whoever wrote this movie had no idea what was actually going to be filmed, or how any kind of vessel worked. I can put up with almost anything except outright stupidity in a movie, so I hated Operation Seawolf.

Let's start with some of the dialogue ... a US Navy captain giving orders such as "come to port 15 degrees, right full rudder" would have had his helmsman strangling him. This happened, not once, not twice but three times ...

And the poignant moment at the end, when his exec reads Kessler's final letter. Kessler's voice does the read back .. only what the voice says bears absolutely no similarity to what is actually written in the letter. One of the other reviewers already mentioned a night attack which started on the surface, then at periscope depth, then back to the surface, so no point belaboring it.

This was just an awful movie, absolutely no redeeming value at all.

Really awful, no matter how you look at it.

[tkarlmann · 1/10 · 9 October 2022]

This film is either: a) A representation of Germany toward the end of WWII; or b) Have this entire cast & crew & writers & Directors ever seen a 'REAL' WWII submarine picture? Although I did plod through it until the hapless ending, There were so many things wrong with this picture, that I'd like to point out just a few.

Early in the film, the 'new' crew gets all lined up for inspection. To be ruefully honest, they all looked as if they'd just paused their Game Boys, Cell Phone games, or whatever, to get off their fat rears long enough to form some sort of 'line' for poor, unshaven, haggard Dolf Lundgren to inspect. Lundgren looks like he just finished "Rocky IV", and they just got the red coloring off. Not even their uniforms matched! Carry this theme to the locations, the desks & chairs, even the pictures on the wall and you will have an idea of how this film looked. Bad.

It is also way past obvious that the number of people in the film was cut to the absolute minimum. On the U. S. side, there is a guy who keeps running to the General with the latest news -- in his first appearance, he looks like he's thinking: "Gee, I'm really in an actual movie!". Yes, this film is THAT bad!

To be fair, making a film set in ~1945 is more difficult in 2022 then it was in 1945-1950. But still!

Do not waste your time watching this film. This film looks as though the recent 'plandemic' really did wipe out most of the (Hollywood?) population.

Not horrible. Its a B movie.

[drs-09434 · 4/10 · 7 October 2022]

Just watched this and I must admit Im a sucker for U Boat movies. This severely lacked in action and any form of character development. As far as realism I wanted to bang my head on the desk several times. It was obviously pretty cheaply made and the CGI wasnt too bad overall.

The acting was ok. Nothing that will leave any kind of a lasting memory but if you like Sub Movies I would say give it a watch. No way I would watch it twice .

Theres a scene where they are on the surface at night towards the end and preparing to fire on a merchant ship. They are on the bridge with Binos and then it shows them turning towards the target to line up. It shows the periscope in the water and the next scene they are on the bridge again. Just little things like that throughout.

Surprisingly good...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 8 November 2022]

As I sat down to watch the 2022 war movie "Operation Seawolf", I must admit that my expectations weren't exactly great. Why? Well, let's just be honest here, Dolph Lundgren doesn't exactly have a string of consequtive hit movies to his belt. But as this was a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to give it a fair chance, and thus I sat down to watch it.

Writer and director Steven Luke actually managed to put together a wholesome and surprisingly enjoyable storyline here. Sure, the movie wasn't exactly boasting and looking like a multi-million dollar production, but the spirit was there and it was actually a well-written storyline with interesting characters. So the sometimes questionable low budget feel that there was to the movie, especially in the American navy offices, was bearable.

I was genuinely surprised and entertained with the storyline that Steven Luke churned out of here. And while "Operation Seawolf" is not going to become a new "Das Boot" movie, then it was actually a good movie about submarine warfare during World War II. And the character gallery in the movie was nicely written too, detailed and layered characters.

Now, I have to say that leading actor Dolph Lundgren carried the movie quite well. And it was also nice to see the likes of Frank Grillo and Hiram A. Murray on the cast list, though they were both not utilized enough for the movie, as they only had limited time on the screen.

Something that was bothering me about "Operation Seawolf" was the fact that the German submarine naval crew were speaking English, with a slight German accent to it. It just doesn't really work all that well, especially not now in 2022, where other movies actually have actors and actresses speaking in the correct corresponding language of whomever they are portraying on the screen.

Visually then "Operation Seawolf" was surprisingly good. The CGI was good and most of the sets were good, and it definitely felt like a proper World War II movie. And I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes at open sea.

"Operation Seawolf" is definitely well-worth sitting down to watch.

Oh dear oh dear

[Hammer-Rocks · 1/10 · 14 December 2022]

This movie is beyond bad. Do not even waste your time watching the trailer.

I can't believe Frank Grillo agreed to make this movie. Its either he was desperate for money, or he owed someone a big favour.

Everytihng about this movie is sub-par. It's not even a C-Grade movie. Acting is woeful, sets are mediocre, and I've seen better graphics from a computer game. And the post-production editing, simply atrocious. The movie didn't have any atmosphere. Lacks any background ambience. Clearly indicating this was all filmed in a studio.

But I got to hand it to the produces, in getting this green-lit for approval. Otherwise, whom in their right mind would have funded this.

VERDICT: Avoid at all costs.

Average fair for WW2 movie

[carlwilkessob · 4/10 · 12 November 2022]

This movie has many shortcomings and a few saving graces.

The cast billing has frank grilli and dolph lundgren as supporting actors to Hiriam Murray but it is very clear Dolph is the leading actor in this movie.

The story lacks cohesiveness and plods along at a snails pace They chose to do English speaking with a German accent

Vfx are not the best but I can see past that if the story is good. Take USS Indianapolis for example. Terrible shark footage but a great story that I can forgive. This doesn't have that

A subplot of a minor mutiny seems to have been thrown in to give this movie some wheels to see it through to the climax but is just distracting

The only real saving grace is Dolph Lundgren plays an Eastern European with aplomb as usual. Just a shame he doesn't get to knock anyone out this time

Worth a watch just the once.

I couldn't handle this

[gkins-58787 · 1/10 · 16 October 2022]

There were too many anachronisms, too many historical errors to even go on. When the sailor standing at the ships con had a bank of switches in front of him that were locked out by anti tourist do not touch plexiglas I'd had enough. I originally looked into watching this movie because I felt Dolf Lundgren wouldn't sign up to play a part in a bottom trough feature. Once again as my wife constantly points out, I was wrong.

While the premise is good, the actual movie is a stinker in line with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, although Attack was meant to be a spoof and this wasn't. Sorry Dolf. I won't be checking in on you again.

What a joke

[labrat-43414 · 1/10 · 2 April 2023]

Right from the start, the WW1 submarine scene is so inaccurate and stupid. Why would the sub gets so close to the ship it's going to torpedo. Then they don't even attempt evasive manuvers or damage control. Abandon ship? Whats that, in a WW1 sub thats sinking. V2 rockets on a sub was a idea, but it was too late by then and still 15 years away. Dolph Lundgren is a pathetic alcoholic that can't stop drinking and is killing himself. Everybody is ignoring this. I hate historically inaccurate movies. The least they can do is make this fictional movie plausible. A black Captain of a ship in WW2? Yes, today we have those, Thank God, but not in WW2.

Not worth watching.

[dangm-81064 · 1/10 · 14 October 2022]

The first reviewer was being nice. This movie has little to do with reality. If this movie is representative of the level of movies that we are going to get in 2022, we are in for a disappointing year. We used to talk about "B" grade movies and this is even lower than that. This movie pales to movies like Das Boat and is not in the same class at all. Pretty much a waste of my time. I didn't even finish the last 15 minutes of the movie because it became too useless to continue. I tried to end the review here but it states that I need to have 500 characters. I can describe this movie with one word starting with "w" but will not. Movies need to have some level of believability if they are trying to cover a story in our past.

It definitely looks like a low-budget movie, especially with the terrible visual effects. Even the dead fish hanging on hooks look like super fake props.

[trinaboice · 5/10 · 18 November 2023]

IN A NUTSHELL: In the last days of WWII, Germany, desperate for any last grasp to defeat the allied powers, formed together the German Navy and the last remaining U-Boats, for one last mission, to attack the United States Homeland.

The dramatic film was both written and directed by Steven Luke.

THINGS I LIKED: This is a man's man kind of movie starring Dolph Lundgren and Frank Grillo. One of the frustrating elements of the movie is watching those two action stars just walk around in an office and submarine.

It's based on a mostly true story.

It had to be difficult to film in such tight spaces on the submarines.

Fun facts: All of the internal submarine scenes were filmed inside an actual WW2 Submarine, the USS Cod The USS COD Submarine Memorial is a National Historic Landmark and is docked in Cleveland, Ohio.

We get to see images of real ships and locations from WWII.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Even though the movie clocks in at a respectable 90 minutes like most films, it somehow feels very short and simple.

There are some really bad acting moments and German accents.

It definitely looks like a low-budget movie, especially with the terrible visual effects. Even the dead fish hanging on hooks look like super fake props.

I laughed out loud when one of the crew members walked by others sleeping in their bunks. Their sheets and his shirt were all made out of the exact same fabric.

Sometimes it's hard to understand what's being said.

One of the big problems is that the studio doesn't understand its audience. Viewers will mostly consist of history buffs and war movie fans, yet sooo many scenes in the movie show a lack of historical accuracy, insulting audiences who want a military movie to love.

Not all of the facts are accurate. For example, At the 47-minute mark in the movie, U-578 is sunk by naval "hedgehog" depth charges in the Atlantic near the coastal USA... but in reality, U-578 was sunk by Allied aircraft attack at a different location in the Bay of Biscay near Spain with no survivors. Another example is in one scene when Dolf Lundgren is seen holding a Walther PP pistol. These were made from 1939 to the present and at no time did Naval officers of The German Navy carry this pistol. In this movie, a German U-Boot is shown in the Hudson River in New York, but in reality, only two U-Boots got so close, and neither entered the harbor. They only passed at the mouth of the river without entry, U-505, and U-37. Neither conducted hostile action in the Hudson during WW2.

Overall, it's just really boring. Know that I feel bad saying that! I know the crew worked very hard at creating this.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will be very bored. So will many adults.

War violence that shows bombs coming from airplanes and submarines Lots of destruction People die.

We see some blood.

.

Fake like a 2 dollar bill.

[motorzbh2002 · 1/10 · 23 December 2022]

At one point I was looking just for mistakes and laugh at the movie. The idea was not bad, launching rockets from U-Boat was in the cards but they never made it past design. And they wanted to use V2 rockets not V1.

To be honest the movie seems to be recorded by some kid with a GoPro 7 without any direction. I have seen fishing movies on Youtube better made.

Casting Dolph as a sub commander was hilarious. I have been on many subs or ships from WW2 and I barely fit and I am 6 feet 3". The only place were I could sleep was under a torpedo. Or in a tube. Even the sub is a museum with the props still hanging ( they use to hang food like bacon or smoked fish on the sub as space was scarce) you can see the fake fish hanging nest to the bunks.

But they cast the giant Dolph.

There are so many mistakes that I need to see it again with my buddies and make fun of the movie.

In the end the movie show the germans as good soldiers as they don't use the V1 rocket and the americans as bad guys as they fire without reason. Maybe the effect was unintended because of bad directing.

So if you want to see a stupid movie and laugh at it enjoy.

Just Plain Awful

[lbalun · 1/10 · 9 March 2023]

Possibly the worst ww2 movie ever made. From start to finish the script, acting and visuals are terrible. Oddly many of the 'action' scenes looked so fake they were actually laughable. In particular many of the camera angles are annoying and distracting. Additionally the movie feels so cumbersome that you forget the original premise of why this submarine is sent out in the first place. Being a fan of ww2 movies this one left so much to be desired, a complete shame as it could have been better, or at minimum, more interesting. I ended the movie feeling bad for Dolph Lundgren, but I guess good work isn't easy to find!

In the beginning, be strong, so you don't end up with just dreams in the end.

[noshouse · 6/10 · 9 September 2023]

While I wouldn't give this movie a very high rating, for those who like to view history from a god's-eye perspective, it does depict the difference between strategy and tactics. Delivering a fatal blow to the enemy is strategy, while the maneuvers and sacrifices in between are tactics. The fear of war and sacrifice in the midst of it is where the male lead's role truly shines. A good leader is someone who can adapt to various variables and make choices that ultimately hold value. Just like in the end, what does it matter to execute a winning strike if it lacks a reason for victory? Is it still worth sacrificing others?

Good acting of Dulph Lundgren

[uwemobil · 4/10 · 31 January 2023]

A film one does not have to have seen.

But there are much much worse movies.

You read Frank Grillo and Dolph Lundgren and think, hey both are athletes - but physics fall short in this movie.

Despite Dolph Lundgren, he shows his body and spoiler -- his arse ---.

It is amazing to watch those famous actors getting old and getting better the older they get.

I don't know whether the story or the intention of attacking New York with a V1 is based on true events.

There are a lot of details, signs, clothing, beahvior, papers, original radio transmissions, that are original or come close to the original.

Story is not that bad.

Cgi ist not that bad, it is quite good.

Most impressive and convincing is the acting of Dolph Lundgren, he has some really good, quiet and well played scenes with time to devolop to my taste.

He is an elder man now, still with well shaped triceps but acting is dominant.

I doubt that he has to do films anymore but his perfomance is not bad.

Frank Grillo did that job in an afternoon I guess and could easily be replaced.

Das Boot, is the only historical film in existence with the type VIIC

[kingtigeroptics · 1/10 · 25 October 2022]

Das Boot, is the only historical film in existence with the type Type VIIC Uboot ... everything else can't compete with this type of movie

You can watch Das Boot, many times and keep fascinated.

This movie sorry, they just did not invest some time for details.

So then it becomes so fake .... No German navy uniforms all mixed up.

It make no sence. Even the Belgium U boot movie is much better.

TORPEDO is the name of that movie ... A type VIIC Uboot ... better actors scene and so on ...

This is just some stuff about a submarine has nothing to do with history, Start with real German navy uniforms speak German and not fake english German or what ever .... Is this so hard ? Then dont even try ....

U-571 seems a Type VIIC, al least thats was a litle bit ok ... but nothing cant beat Das Boot, best Type VIIC uboot movie ever !!!!!

Preposterous movie

[trebor-corfield · 1/10 · 10 December 2023]

I agree with previous reviews. Totally inaccurate situations. They seem to have assembled a random collection of nautical orders and got the actors to speak them totally out of context. Why do they always get the hats/caps wrong? They're much too big. And Hitler giving speeches on the radio in 1945 - I think not. Some of the CGI is quite convincing particularly the subs themselves. With a bit more accuracy and research this could have been a good (made up) story. As it is, I gave up watching halfway through so I didn't see how the attack on New York was achieved (if at all) - it's a laughable attempt at creating a wartime film and totally unbelievable.

With out a doubt, the worst sub movie ever

[hoffnet-46427 · 1/10 · 14 December 2023]

This movie is terrible. I decided to stick it out to see if there were any redeeming qualities - there were none. The historical inaccuracies in even the most basic aspects of every thing from surface ship helm orders to the way the UBoats are operated during attacks are simply ... well I was going to say laughable, but I can't even think of laughing at such a terrible film.

Among the most unbelievable aspects is the instantaneous comminations between the USN warships and LANT FLT in Norfolk, which has all operational orders coming from a Commander (O5) with out a Captain or Flag Officer to be seen. Also absent at LANT FLT HQ are any enlisted sailors.

Pass this one by with a wide berth. Simply terrible- embarrassing to say the least.

Oh dear.. what a stinker

[isuspgr-61841 · 1/10 · 5 January 2023]

I really tried to give this rubbish a chance even after looking at the seriously poor CGI graphics at the start. I could only manage a few more minutes laughing at the German submarine sailor's uniforms, the total lack of detail to any reality and the initial "acting" by actors who didn't know how to. Clearly a low B grade movie short on funding with B grade ex-actors like Lundgren and Grillo. I do not know the director's work but it's clear that someone needs to go back to school to figure out how to make a movie worth watching. The marketing obviously worked but give this movie a wide berth.