Foe at the Door

Remember, No Russian

Warning: Minor spoilers may be within.
Enemy at the Gates is a 2001 film depicting a highly fictionalised version of the life of Sniper and Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaystev, in this depicted by Jude Law, for, as far as I can tell, no reason at all. He doesn't even try to replicate (nor do many, or even any, other characters in the film) a russian accent, something which Call of Duty has taught us you can hire any big name western actor to do and it will obviously work. Speaking of Call of Duty, actually. If you're familiar with the games then parts of Enemy at the Gates will look very similar. And for good reason. It would certainly seem that Spark Unlimited and Treyarch have both seen the film, and their Stalingrad levels have had moments based off of it. Or, at risk of sounding overly aggressive towards the developers, ripped bloodily from the film as it kicked and screamed. Not that that's a bad thing, if anything it brought a smile to my face as I saw the impact different media forms could have on each other in motion.

Look Familiar?

Though references existing in a certain game series aside, Enemy at the Gates is well worth a look if you're a fan of the genre, particularly World War 2 movies such as Saving Private Ryan and others.You'll eventually end up ignoring that everyone sounds like they're from any given part of London, and be drawn away in the excellent crowd scenes, with various shades of brown and grey being contrasted vividly by the red banners being held by the charging Soviets. These scenes, displaying brutal (though inaccurate) battles in the streets of Stalingrad are likely the film's best, comparatively the scenes of sniping and hunting are slower paced, and quite frankly on the dull side, the build-ups to a shot or a death are a relief from this boredom, but the moment itself feels anti-climactic and everything in-between is just as bad. Some thrill may be found in the scenes following the propaganda that makes Vasily the hero he is, though again, it pales in comparison to the battle scenes at the start of the film, the way the film leads up to his status is interesting, however, though not explored too much.

The acting, in an all round sense is good, the characters feel believable with the possible exception of Vasily himself, who feels like Jude Law. I've already mentioned the lack of Russian accents throughout the film, and I never really got the feeling that anyone in this film was a grim, determined soldier of the Red Army, fighting for their life, and even though you stop noticing the lack of accents so much, it always feels like they'd be more at home in the Ritz than on the streets of Stalingrad. It's not too off putting as long as you push it to the back of your head, but as soon as it crawls to the front, it's hard to drop again. A few characters also needed far more screen-time and development, the most obvious example here being Ron Perlman's veteran sniper, disillusioned with the Communist regime who is, annoyingly, killed about ten minutes after his introduction. It's really a bit of a waste, especially given how interesting the character was to begin with. But nope, he gets shot.

I guess, in the end, as I said at the beginning, the movie is worth watching, it's good, not too great, but good, the score is wonderful to hear, the crowd scenes are utterly brilliant, and you really get a feel for the battle, but it can be brought down by the duller scenes, bad characterisation at certain points (all you ever really get from Vasily himself is that he's a Shepherd from the Urals and he can shoot things) and a few problems with accents. Though all of this isn't enough to make the film bad, or even 'meh', they just bring it down to good, it's a fun watch, an entertaining way to kill a few hours and if you're a fan of World War 2 movies then you should definitely see it if you haven't already.