Review of Enemy at the Gates (2001) by Performance P — 19 Jan 2011

When a young Russian soldier is held up as a heroic example to the besieged citizens of Stalingrad during WWII, the Nazis send their top marksman to kill him and quell their rising hope. There's a lot about Enemy At The Gates that I admire; the opening sequence is excellent, showing the Russian soldiers as a collection of unwilling young conscripts treated like virtual slaves, used as cannon fodder and just as likely to be shot by their own officers as the enemy.

The visuals are also superb, brilliantly recreating the devastated ruins of the city and Annaud's direction makes the cat and mouse game between the two snipers extremely tense and suspenseful. A steely-eyed Ed Harris also puts in a typically excellent performance as the German sharpshooter who locks horns with our hero.

Unfortunately the woeful miscasting of Jude Law in the lead role means that the young shepherd from the Urals is played like an extra from a Guy Ritchie movie and the introduction of Hollywood gloss in the form of a pointless love triangle and overly intrusive incidental music compromises everything about the film that is of merit.

It's still worth watching for the good bits, but I'd avoid the scenes involving the unfortunate Miss Weisz like a little red dot on the forehead.