Review – Enemy at the Gates

I’ll bet at some point in the development process this had the potential to become a really good movie. That theory is based on the assumption that this probably started out as a story about a duel between Soviet sniper Vasili Zaitsev and German ace marksman Major Koning in the ruins of Stalingrad in 1942. I read the story of these two guys awhile back and always thought it would make a good movie. As it turned out, the parts of the picture that were actually about sniping were really good. The problem was that the combat sequences were separated by lengthy nonsense – particularly a contrived romance – that appeared grafted on in order to broaden the story’s audience appeal (i.e. war for the guys and love for their dates). As a result, screen time that might have gone to better character development or more extensive treatment of the battle itself instead ended up squandered on go-nowhere subplots. That shortcoming aside, however, the battle sequences are some of the best I’ve ever seen, and the cast does a fine job with a reasonably well-crafted script. Mildly amusing