IMDB Rating: 7.30, 30850 votes |
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During the WWII battle of Stalingrad, two snipers, a Russian (Law), and a German (Harris), are locked in a battle of wills and marksmenship, while the Russian is boosted to the status of hero by a political official (Fiennes).Actors
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19 Comments
Its the best european import ever during the reign. the movie is shown through strength and bravery. The Enemy at the Gates is Jude Law at the frontline before everything hell loose.
Jude Law displays emotions while in set. Best ever.
Cool
excellent movie. Nice opening
Cockney soldiers fight for Mother Russia!
Set in Stalingrad, 1942 at the height of Hitler’s march into Russia, this film is aimed at portraying the intense duel between a common but extraordinary Russian sniper and a veteran Nazi sharp-shooter in the midst of one the war’s most violent battles.
The story is good if not slightly embelished by Hollywood to make it more film-goer friendly; the love story, the jealousy between comrades etc. The duel itself is hugely entertaining and very tense in all the right places.
The action is wonderfully filmed and one does really get the feeling of a war zone; eerily quiet despite the presence of over a million men. Every nook and cranny seems to hide a sniper. The effects are good and the viewer is successfully engrossed in all that is on the screen.
The acting, although well attempted, has a few curious faults. Notably, the use of common English accents on the infantry and posher English accents on the officers. Now I appreciate the fact that we cannot have the film done in Russian but it is odd that the director should make such a stylised decision when he has tried to present a story so truthfully.
However, Law is good when not talking, Hoskins is underused, Fiennes does a fine job as does Weisz but for me it was Ed Harris who stole the show. I don’t what it is but it always seems to be the Nazis that steal the show. Must be the uniforms. Anyway….
Yes. Good film if you ignore the accents. The love scene seems a tad out of place but is well crafted and slips in without too much hassle. The story is always a little predictable but that doesn’t really spoil the enjoyment. I always consider it money well spent if I get to see a Nazi’s head explode like a grape under a sledge hammer: even if it’s at the hands of the damn Commies!
Very interesting at a few parts
For a much better portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad, see the film Stalingrad (1992).
Maybe worth a matinee
Plot: 5
Originality: 3
Visuals: 6
Acting: 5
Overall: 4.75
Nothing special
In a post-9/11 time of patriotism, the market is currently being oversaturated with preachy antiwar films ("Behind Enemy Lines," Black Hawk Down," "Hart’s War," "We Were Soldiers," etc.). Let’s travel back in time to one year ago, when "Enemy at the Gates" was the sole action movie at the boxoffice. Borrowing heavily from the milestone "Saving Private Ryan," this Jude Law-starring vehicle is long and monotonous. It belittles an entire battle to two main characters, and the bloody war scenes offer nothing new to the desensitized viewer. All-around average.
why was this movie made?
Well filmed and interesting; poor performances and distracting love story
Slow start & story with lots of blood
English-accented Russians is a slight drawback, but this movie was still great
A little long.. English-accented Russians don’t work for me.
good movie BUT…
I can’t stand it when accents don’t match up. Russians speaking English with UK accents. The only movie more annoying was 13th warrior with Banderas speaking Spanish accented English, playing an Arabian prince in Viking territory. They could have faked Russian accents or made it a subtitled movie and added a lot more credibilty to the story. For the 100 million or whatever pictures cost, can’t we get languages SOMEWHAT believable please? This movie was good action, good romance and worth the time but not "Great".
Imagine my disappointment.
I won’t speak of historical inaccuracies. Aside from that the fast pace the movie starts in slows to a dreadful crawl for the vast majority of this movie. It starts getting somewhat interesting again toward the end, but it doesn’t deliver nearly as much of the good stuff as it promises in the first fifteen minutes.
I really like Ed Harris’ character as the German Major Koenig sent out to kill the Russian sniper. In fact his portrayal of Koenig is one of the biggest saving graces of this flick. Jude Law also did a good job playing the part of the not-very-reluctant hero Russian sniper Vassily Zaitsev.
But aside from the characters themselves, the plot felt distanced from any sort of chronological consistency. There were gaps between scenes that made you feel as though you just missed something. In the latter half of the movie a very scathing letter is written about Vassily that gave the impression something very damning was going to happen. The results of that letter were disappointing to say the least. There was no explanation of where the Russian snipers slept. No mention of all the German snipers Vassily killed in order to warrant the hunting by Germany’s sniper instructor himself.
All in all the whole thing felt very rushed with scenes cobbled together. Yet ironically the movie was very slow paced.
Come to think of it, I think they misspelled Major Koenig’s name in the credits. It appears as "Konig." Maybe it is Konig. Oh the humanity…
Good afternoon matinee
I enjoyed ‘Enemy at the Gates’. Not as much as I have enjoyed other WWII movies, like ‘Saving Private Ryan’.. heck I even liked ‘Shining Through’. This movie didn’t really have any scenes that gripped me, nothing that I am going to remember for any significant amount of time and no rewatch value.
Everything was very realistic (blood, guts, brains) and watching the Russian soldiers shoot their own men was interesting.
If you have problems with American and British actors/actresses faking(sometimes) Russian and German accents, you will have a problem this movie.
Overall I liked the conflict of good and evil and enjoyed the movie overall.
PS. Listen for Ron Perlman’s explaination of his new teeth. YICK
Wow, Intense excellent story … go see it, you won’t be disappointed!
I really liked this movie. From the opening scenes of mass "rush the line" warfare to the intensity of "sniper hunting sniper" … very very good. It is a little intense for anyone under 14 with lots of blood and gore and realistic wounds, additionally it has one graphic realistic sex scene that the movie didn’t need and that I could have done without, thank you very much.
All in all though it was an excellent movie that kept moving and kept you on your toes.
Very Good
Love to see Ed Harris in anything. He’s one of the most talented, but underrated, actors around today. The romantic story-line would have worked better if more of it had been implied and left to the imagination. As it was, it watered down the dramatic impact of the rest of the story. All that aside, it was worth seeing.
my pick of the month!
This movie was one of the first well thought out movies i have seen in a long time. I was really impressed with it both as far as plot is concerned as well as in cinematography. It’s one of those movies where you leave feeling like the battle between good and evil has ended on your side. Definately worth the long running time!