TV Week (Australia)
August 1-17, 2001
By Keith Lofthouse

Rated MA15+, 115 minutes

Enemy at the Gates begins with a WWII battle so terrifying that it bears comparision with Saving Private Ryan ... but it does not compare.

This battle is fought in Stalingrad. Russian soldier Sgt Vassili Zaitsev wipes out a German general and his staff, and becomes such a hero and inspiration to Stalin's army that the German command is out to obliterate him.

Most of the story is true. Zaitsesv did exist, and there are records of Major Erwin Konig, his German adversary. Less probable is a love triangle involving Zaitsev (Jude Law, above centre), Sgt Tania Chernova (Rachel Weisz) and fictional Soviet propaganda officer Commissar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes).

The film's strength is the cat-and-mouse game between Konig (Ed Harris ) and Zaitsev, but there are serious weaknesses in the script. A trapped Zaitsev is allowed to escape, a wounded Konig is not finished off and a boy dealing on both sides of the fence is trusted for far too long.

It's never less than interesting, but it's no Saving Private Ryan - and the cliched love story is like Pearl Harbour all over again.

*** = 3 stars.