Australian Who Weekly
August 6, 2001
By Andie Paviour

Based on the actual heroics of a Russian sniper, Enemy at the Gates doesn't live up to its talented cast.

The 1942-43 Battle for Stalingrad was a watershed confrontation between German and Russian forces. The capture of the city would not only have cemented the invading Germans' position, but heightened the humiliation as a jazzy feather in their Fuhrer's political cap. Needless to say, Joe Stalin was less than delighted by this prospect, ordering that Stalingrad - today's Volgograd - must never be taken.

As it turned out, the Russians somehow prevailed, although the losses on both sides were horrific. And if all this sound more like a history lesson than a film review, bear with me, because as the opening mayhem of Enemy at the Gates engulfs you with grime-encrusted gunfire, you'll be mighty glad you boned up on the deets.

Based on William Craig's 1973 book and directed with extremity-numbing earnestness by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet; say no more), Enemy begins with Spielbergian bang, as hapless Russian soldiers are forced into battle. This big canvas carnage is misleading, however, for Annaud is less interested in the overall picture than in the real-life story of peasant boy turned superhero sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law).

Zaitsev's killer aim is so formidable that as his body count rises, the German authorities dispatch their top marksman (Ed Harris) to hunt him down. While chaos reigns around them, the two sharp-shooters snipe it out in various ruined buildings - a process that, as any self-respecting sniper could tell you, involves hours of hanging about looking shifty while you wait for your quarry to do something stupid.

With a little more pep, this micro take could have worked. As it is, there's simply not enough going on. Annaud's decision to have the actor's speak in their own accents is another hit-and-miss affair: Law and Harris could quack like ducks and still be the epitome of cool, Joseph Fiennes is self-righteousness incarnate as a meddlesome Russian political officer, and as a soldier-girl love-interest Rachel Weisz handles the heroics with impassioned aplomb. But Bob Hoskins as Khruschev? That's seriously out of toon.

B-