British Actress Blog

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Score: 8/10

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Stars: Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Ed Harris.

Enemy at the Gates

Rachel Weisz

Synopsis: A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat and mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Review: Vassili ( Jude Law ) is a soldier in the Russian army fighting for his mother land against the German invasion of Stalingrad. After escaping a major German attack which dealt a critical blow to the Russians, Vassili manages to escape the enemies grasp along with his new found friend Commisar Danilova ( Joseph Fiennes ). After returning to the Russian army, Vassili has new found fame in a military news paper. As the new hero of the Russian army, Vassili hunts down a famous German sniper named Major König ( Ed Harris ). This begins a constant battle between the two soldiers and the fate of Stalingrad.

Tania Chernova

Rachel Weisz

This film is from 2001 and Rachel Weisz still looks the same today. I think she doesn’t age. Her and Jude law engage in he most awkward sex scene I have ever seen in a Hollywood movie in my entire life. I wont go into it any further because I try my best to keep this web site as classy as possible, but seriously, what the hell? Joseph Fiennes does a good job here in this film but nothing beats his performance as Merlin in the STARZ TV series Camelot.

Commisar Danilov

Joseph Fiennes

A game of sniper versus sniper. I’m not really in to the whole war movie genre, especially the Hollywood war movies. Most of these kind of films are some of the worst serious films ever made. This film is the exception. One of the worst war movies I have every seen in my life is Windtalkers (2002) with Nicolas Cage. The main protagonist in that film Joe Enders ( Nicolas Cage ) can kill every single enemy in the entire base and not get shot. Major plot amour! That sort of thing is typical of Hollywood war flicks. That is one of the reasons I do not watch war films. AS for the whole psychological aspect of the film, Major König uses a variety of psychological attacks on the main protagonist Vassili, as many as possible. These two men are more like hunters rather than just snipers on the battlefield.

Rachel Weisz

and Jude Law

The cinematography is perfect. The lighting, wardrobe, set dressing, and backgrounds are all superb. Keep in mind this is coming from a person who does not like these kind of movies. The film is well paced. The movie gets you right into the action very fast. The film is consistent all throughout the whole film. So if I had to watch one war film, it would be this one. This movie is apparently based on a true story but remember that this is a Hollywood film so the accuracy of these events are questionable at best. The movie is condensing the events of a man’s life into a two hour film so a lot of the story will be lost. Of course here, we are only really concerned with the motion picture film. The movie is a good watch.

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