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 enlarge | Actors: Matthais Habich, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Eva Mattes, Ron Perlman
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $1.44
You Save: $8.54 (86%)
New (63) Used (106) from $1.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  376 reviews
Sales Rank: 2785
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 131
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.5
MPN: 097363386247
ISBN: 0792172760
UPC: 097363386247
EAN: 9780792172765
ASIN: B00003CXRA
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
Release Date: August 14, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 wonderful duel, in the context of war-torn Stalingrad February 21, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a really good film of a talented fighter, Zaitsev, who is chosen as a tool of political propaganda in a desperate era. The acting is wonderful, from Law as the hero, Fiennes as the political propagandist and Hoskins as Krushchev, to Ed Harris as the sensitive and hoghly talented villain/sniper. I have watched this, utterly rivetted, several times these last months, and my fascination with the historical period and characters is undiminished.
Warmly recommended.
 This movie is fair, but that's all February 1, 2005
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
Judging by all the comments made about the historical innacuracy of this film (somehow the outcome of biggest battle in the history of the world hinges on the personal gun duel between a Russian speaking with an English accent and a German speaking with an American accent), or the hackneyed way the contrived romance displaces what ought to be the real story in the movie (the sniper duel), I still rented this movie hoping that I would like it.
To be honest, there were some very fascinating parts of this film -- even the innactuarate ones like the nonsensical opening phase of the film is still interesting to watch.
The sniper scenes are also interesting to watch, however I doubt that a huge battle between several hundred thousands of soldiers would suddenly cease just so that a sniper duel between two people can have greater dramatic tension. There are many points when the snipers reveal themselves in the open where, although perhaps invulnerable to each other, would make wonderful targets for other soldiers, including other snipers.
I also found the ending very odd. I got the impression that when the Russians were evacuating the city across the Volga river, that the Germans were poised for victory. Suddenly, the movie cuts to the next scene where somehow the Germans lost. Although this is true historically, the movie offers no context or explanation for the sudden change in fortune. In reality the change in fortune came about because of large Russian army counterattacks on an overextended German line, but the movie tries to tell you that the battle was decided one the Russian sniper bested the German sniper.
PLEASE.
Overall, an okay movie. My boyfriend majors in european history and he was more disappointed in this movie than I. I could stand the romance, however the way it was played was too cutesy and unlikely. This movie is a throw-away popcorn flick that for some reason thinks it's better than it really is. A wannabe epic in the Pearl Harbor (2001) vein.
good B movie January 31, 2005
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Its funny but I think I like this movie best for reasons that other people seem to dislike it. If I really wanted historical accuracy wouldn't I be watching a documentary? Personally I found this movie to be completely entertaining, and when I define entertaining I mean Not Boring, which I find more and more movies to be these days. Also, the Russian viewpoint of the film is at least a different take, not a volunteer army. In short with all the garbage movies out there, I fail to see how anyone could dare call this movie bad. It was at least good, if not great, and I personally think it still to be Jude Law's best role to date, if that's saying much, heh?
Engrossing Movie January 25, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I can hardly fathom why this movie has a lot of negative reviews. I have had this DVD for two years, and I watched it again last night. The fight scenes are intense, the acting is quite good, and Ed Harris always gives us a fantastic performance. These people must hardly enjoy anything at all.
Please give this movie a chance. It is well worth viewing at least once.
Duel in the rubble of a burning city January 24, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The fortunes of the Second World War on the Eastern Front were played out both in a macrocosmic and a microcosmic way, the former being the German army versus the Soviet army, the latter being the personal duel of two opposing infantrymen in war-torn Stalingrad in the autumn of 1942.
Such is the setting for this movie, which deals with the brutality of the no-holds-barred war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, where no quarter was expected or given. Stalingrad was to be epitomized as the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front (and the graphic showing the map of Nazi-occupied Europe being "inked" over by a spreading swastika showed this memorably), yet the focus for this film was on four particular people: sniper Vassili Zaitzev (Jude Law), upon whose real-life experiences in Stalingrad the film is based, the political officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), their mutual love interest Tania (Rachel Weisz) and the German army sniper Major Konig (Ed Harris).
While the Germans do their level best to kill every Soviet army soldier in sight both on the ground and from the air, the Soviets have to kill the enemy as well as avoid being shot themselves for "cowardice". In one harrowing scene, shortly after Zaitzev lands ashore after being nearly killed while crossing the Volga in a flimsy passenger boat, soldiers fall back after an utterly ill-thought-out infantry attack involving both armed and unarmed soldiers against enemy positions, such was the desperation - and absurdity - behind the "tactics" intended to throw the enemy back, only to be mown down by fellow soldiers at the behest of fanatical "no-retreat" officers.
And yet even the German commander-in-chief (Matthias Habich) tells Konig upon first meeting him that his army "was not meant for this kind of fighting", a sign that defeat was already on the way - hence, the (unrealistic) idea that the killing of Zaitzev might somehow demoralize the Soviets to such an extent that they may lose heart in fighting for Stalingrad's survival. Certainly, Krushchev (played with vigor by Bob Hoskins), after hearing a report that the famed shepherd boy from the Urals had been killed, believed that with that memorable line to Danilov, "What are they [the Germans] supposed to do? Dangle his body in front of our men?!"
Many war movies, amongst them "The Blue Max" (1966), "Mosquito Squadron" (1968), "Zeppelin" (1971) and "The Pianist" (2002), inevitably involve principal male characters falling in love with female characters, yet such sub-plots usually are seen as doing more to damage, if not derail, the main story. In this case, it is the "cat-and-mouse" sniper duel between Zaitzev and Konig, with "moves" being played out according to information being passed on to both men by a boy named Sacha (Gabriel Marshall-Thompson), who believes in Zaitzev yet ultimately loses his life in a shocking way.
With the "love triangle" involving Zaitzev, Danilov and Tania, it is tempting to believe that it is totally unnecessary and might lead to many in the audience cringing to the point of frustration, given the amount of time devoted to it. Nevertheless, instead of putting Russia first, Danilov's interest in Tania and his jealousy betray his weak character, as he is prepared both to abandon his main propaganda tool and to betray his comrade by daring to report to the authorities Zaitzev's alleged "change of attitude", much to the shock of the woman who has to type his lies (although, curiously, this betrayal is never followed up). With friends like him, who needs enemies? Certainly not Zaitzev, who admitted to Danilov at one point that he was on the verge of cracking up, because he was being made to carry a burden that he would otherwise never have chosen had he realized what Danilov was getting him into. Only the manner of Sacha's death stiffens the Russian sniper's resolve to kill the German responsible.
As a war film, "Enemy at the Gates" has more going for it than some might suggest. As well as Robert Fraisse's photography of a city being bombarded and destroyed, the dark colors and constantly burning buildings creating the mood, Alain Godard and Jean-Jacques Annaud, both of whom had worked together on "The Name of the Rose" (1986), have produced a memorable movie dealing with one of the darkest chapters in world history with their meticulous attention to detail. Even the scene where Zaitzev tells Tania, "These people know they're going to die, so each night they come back is a celebration", shows just how characteristically the Russians viewed both their lives and the situation in general, as they battled to keep Stalingrad in their hands, which they eventually succeeded in doing after 180 days of the hardest fighting ever experienced by two opposing armies during what the Soviets termed the "Great Patriotic War".
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