Rating: 
Summary: Not bad at all
Review: As everyone else has commented in great detail, it seems superfluous to say what the film is about. An unimaginably ghastly battle of WW2 is given the best treatment visually one probably could reasonably hope to expect. The set and digital effects are stunning (even if at times they are clearly digitally-derived: mainly due to a desire to show the "camera" moving rather self-consciously in three dimensions in a way that does not really help in depicting reality). This has got to be the toughest thing about depicting such a terrible battle amidst the ruins of a medium-sized city. The film's plot though, unlike the best war films, is rather uninvolving and this I think is partly due to the rather over simplistic plot and the rather wooden characters. The early sniper duels are very good and involving - if only the rest had been like this. There is something slightly false about the dialogue - not altogether ringing true. Still this film really does deliver on the visual goods and this is reason alone to see it. Whilst the sets have a painterly "composed" look to them (a little to many "romantic" statues of Lenin and Stalin lying about I think) the scenes of desolate destroyed streets are impressive as are the scenes of attacks from the air. The film misses the gritty reality of "Saving Private Ryan" or "Schindler's List", but not by much and certainly it is way superior to say, "The Pianist" in this regard. A fine effort in depicting the un-depictable.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrific movie....
Review: A gritty explicit depiction of war in the Soviet Union in the 1940's. The cinematography and acting are superb.....you can almost smell the dust. A must see movie.....really terrific....go see it!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Enemy At the Gates: But Who is the Enemy?
Review: ENEMY AT THE GATES is the sprawling sort of war movie that lies somewhere between the reality of massacre of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and any war film with John Wayne. The opening scenes of the battle for Stalingrad during World War II set, in their gruesome intensity, the brute nature that was the street fighting between the Nazi Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army. When Stalin's political commissars send out an untrained and poorly equipped group of conscripts, the resulting slaughter, first by the Germans, then by the commissars for desertion and cowardice, well indicates the chaotic state that riddled the Soviet Army during the early war years. The typical Red Army conscript was as likely to die from a bullet to the back as from the front. Into this maelstrom, steps Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), one of those conscripts who ran but had the great good fortune to run into one of those very commissars Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) who would have shot him but now welcomes him since both are cut off. Zaitsev's sharpshooting ability impresses Danilov enough to introduce him to Senior Political Commissar Nikita Khruschev (Bob Hoskins), who promptly elevates Zaitsev to national hero status. Up to this point, director Jean-Jacques Annaud is on firm ground as he allows Law, Fiennes, and Hoskins to bounce off each other collectively and shine singly so that each makes a series of indelible impressions. Beginning with the introduction of Nazi Major Konig (Ed Harris), who is sent to Stalingrad to kill Zaitsev for public relations purposes, Annaud permits ENEMY AT THE GATES to march inexorably toward melodrama. The second half devolves into a cat and mouse game between Konig and Zaitsev, with each sniper under pressure from their respective superiors to kill the other. It would have made more cinematic sense had these two met and fought on their own without a Russian version of High Noon. Furthering muddying the waters is a pointless love triangle between Zaitsev and a Russian interpreter Tania (Rachel Weisz), who, predictably enough is loved by Danilov as well. Still, ENEMY AT THE GATES permits the viewer to observe at a nearly first hand level the insanity that was the carnage of Stalingrad. If that viewer has to endure the drivel and dreck of the required Hollywood love triangle to appreciate a game of deadly tag played out on an infinitely larger scale of war, then the worth of the film is yet evident. Not every soldier gets to make love to a beautiful woman with bullets and bombs blazing overhead. The fact that Jude Law does this does not make this a film to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Worth while, but not accurate
Review: In my opinion, movies like Enemy at the Gates are worth watching simply because it helps educate a generation that is far too self absorbed. The WW II battle for Stalingrad is re-created, though not entirely accurate historically This movie falsly portrays Russian soldiers as ill-trained and un professional. This is unfortunate as the Red Army at Stalingrad certainly proved a worthy opponent for the German 6th Army. As far as the Germans taking an inordinate interest in Vassily Zaitsev this is quite true, however, it was not Major Konig, but rather SS Colonel Heinz Thorwald who was dispatched to Stalingrad from Berlin for the express purpose of eliminating top Soviet snipers, especially Zaitsev, who was being lionized in Soviet propaganda. Still this an interesting story and worth your time and attention. The movie did do a credible job in giving the view a true-to-life feel for the struggle for Stalingrad. Jude Law was quite convincing as Vassily Zaitzev, and Ed Harris also did a yeoman's job as German Major Konig. Other great actors in this film: Rachel Weisz as Zaitzev's Russian woman soldier love interst, and Joseph Fiennes(Danilov) as Zaitzev's political officer who puffs him for Russian Consumption. -- K.K. Dunn, Kansas City
Rating: 
Summary: Superb Depiction Of The Seige Of Stalingrad!
Review: Seldom is an event in history so well rendered as is the classic battle for Stalingrad during WWII in this superb film about a classic sniper's duel between a young and renowned Soviet rifleman who had become a virtual legend to both his fellow soldiers and the ragged proletariat back home, on the one hand, and an older and highly decorated Wehrmacht officer who has come to eliminate the young Soviet phenomenon for propaganda purposes. One is sucked immediately in the hopeless vortex of the battlefield, a place where senseless full frontal charges into the German positions are ordered by incompetent (and cowering) Soviet officers, and where raw youthful recruits rarely last long enough to have their own rifle to fight with. The sequences in which the vanguard is mowed down and those behind them literally leap through the mud to retrieve rifles and some ammo capture the maximum mismatch of well-trained and battle-hardened German soldiers face-off untrained and unseasoned Soviet inductees. The cast is superb, from Jude Law, playing Vassili Zaitsev, the young Soviet sniper, to the always terrific Ed Harris, as the German major sent to find and kill Vassili, and with Bob Hoskins playing a young and courageous Nikita Krushchev, determined to turn the situation at Stalingrad around, and Rachel Weisz as a female sniper enamored of Vassili, and Joseph Fiennes, as a young Russian propaganda officer who propels Vassili into an unwanted limelight and celebrity and comes to confuse Vassili's success with his own. As the film progresses we see again and again the ways in which the men and women caught in the murderous crossfire and struggling to survive in the ruined chaos of what was left of the once marvelous city of Stalingrad. Here death is literally just around the corner, accompanied by a scant instant of blinding sound and pain, and surviving is as much a matter of luck and placement as of skill and determination. The denizens of the long siege of Stalingrad and the associated prosecution of the stalemated battle prosecute their efforts with ragged fatalism, and so many die from wounds or hunger or disease that death becomes a virtual constant companion for each of them, and each of the characters is transformed in some fashion by the experience. What is most amazing about the classic snipers' duel is the fact that it is all based on historical fact, and the eventual survivor of the duel goes on to live a long and satisfying life thereafter. Given the insanity and cruelty of war, such instances are examples of the old saw that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. This is a wonderful albeit grim and sometimes depressing movie, and one I can heartily recommend. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Enemy at the Gates
Review: For a 20 year old boy from Mexico the common war movies are the Rambo series and many others where the Soviet Army or Red Army are the bad boys, and you grow up with this idea. But when i read on a magazine the filming of this movie i was not expected to be one of my favourites because the story is about a young Soviet sniper who became in 9 days a national hero and the chase of his counterpart an experimented German marksman. In first place i don't belive it was a good movie because Saving Private Ryan is (for say) the actual war epic movie but when i see it i just found a new war epic movie form a battle who was the most bloddy of all: the siege of Stalingrad. the cast include good actors like Jude Law in the play of the Hero Vassili Zaitsev and Ed Harris the role of the Major Edwig Koenig and one of the most beauties actress of this times Rachel Weisz on the role of Tania Chernova. You will enjoy this movie. belive me.
Rating:
Summary: Thriller
Review: This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's got the adreniline of Saving Private Ryan and the romance of Titanic all in one. It's worth buying even if you haven't seen it.
Rating:
Summary: Personal War
Review: Enemy At The Gates, is a World War II film that didn't quite resonate with movie-goers, the way, lets say Saving Private Ryan did. While not a great film by any means, "Gates" does have its moments, and boasts great performances from actors Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes that keep things interesting The battle of Stalingrad sets the stage for a game of cat and mouse. Famed Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Law) quietly and efficiently stalks his German enemies one by one. In order to avoid further embarassment, Germany's best sharpshooter, Major König (Ed Harris), is called upon to dispose of, Zaitsev once and for all. A love triangle complicates things for Zaitsev as he tries to stay alive. He is taken with Tania Chernova (Rachel Weisz), a female officer, who is herself in love with Danilov (Fiennes), the man who promoted him to his all important task. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the film has been critized by some, for its "inaccuracies". I have to say stuff like that doesn't bother me, as long as it looks realistic and I know going in, the film is "based on historical events". The movie does an ok job in that department. As I said earlier Law and Fiennes really shine. Both men are intense in their own way. While Harris and Weisz are ok but can each get a bit over the top at times. Annaud stages battles big and small well overall. But things are better when staged on a more personal scale, as opposed to the more epic size sequences. The extras on the DVD are fairly standard. There are 2 "making of" featurettes. Each lasts around 15 minutes each and offer what you might expect from them. The best extra is the deleted scenes section. While the nine missing scenes, wouldn't have enhanced the final film, they are nice to see, nontheless. The theatrical trailer tops off the disc. In my opinion, Enemy At The Gates, works best as a rental. Strong roles from two great actors are the reason to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Grim and ugly, beautiful and moving
Review: Few war films capture the ugliness and chaos of battle so brutally--and even majestically--as Enemy at the Gates does. The elaborate and meticulous production design and nuanced cinematography make this film unforgettable visually. You'll really believe you're traveling through the ruins of Stalingrad with the film's soldiers. Within the grand battle for the city, the cat-and-mouse game between Zaitsev and König is handled with equal flair, creating a gripping arc of dramatic suspense. It's true that the plot and characters can get a bit simplistic or cliched, and there's no question that Enemy at the Gates relies too heavily on convenient coincidences (though that's a hallmark of just about every movie, it seems). Still, there's actually something to be said for cliches and having your expectations satisfied: these archetypes have meaning for generation after generation. Some people complain about the interjection of a romance into a war story, but they forget that wars (and war films) aren't just about battles and blood, they're about people and how they react under such extraordinary and extraordinarily trying circumstances. Few things bring out a man's true character as quickly as war crashing down around him, and few things make someone focus on the essentials, like love, as readily as imminent death. Thanks to some fine acting, particularly by Joseph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, the love triangle is actually rather touching, and both the love story and the brutally grim fighting help throw each other into stark relief, making each part of the movie that much more affecting.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Typical Hollywood Caricature
Review: Jean-Jacques Annaud directs this movie surrounding true characters and events during the WWII campaign for Stalingrad: the turning point against Germany in the Eastern Front. Jude Law plays Vassily Zaitzev a Russian peasant who enrolls with the Red Army and is sent to Stalingrad to get his first combat experience. As the battle progresses, he soon finds himself to be one of the best marksmen in the Red Army. Frustrated at the losses suffered during the constant skirmishes, the German army seeks to send their own specialized marksman to dispose of Vassily. German Major Konig (Ed Harris) takes the challenge and vows to kill Vassily and bring honor back to the Wermacht. The movie tries to capture the audience into the horrors of Stalingrad but becomes trapped by its own Hollywood style. The characters quickly become two-dimensional stereotypes lost in conventional and predictably boring Hollywood sub-plots canned with the usual cliche dialogue. The love story was unecessary, stereotypical, and just plain irritating. Throughout the movie, the director seemed more interested at making humorous jabs of Soviets and communism instead of emphasizing the dramatic elements of the plot. This undermined the director's attempts at presenting the story as a true drama and instead reduced it to the credibility level of a generic Rambo 3 movie. For a more sober portrayal of this decisive battle and its effects on the human condition, I would recommend the German film "Stalingrad" instead.
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