Enemy at the Gates (2001) Cert. 15. Director - Jean-Jacques Annaud. Writer - Jean-Jacques Annaud & Alain Godard. Starring - Jude Law, Joseph Feinnes, Rachael Weisz & Ed Harris

Premise - Set in 1942 we follow sniper Jude Law as he tries to drive the Russians out of Stalingrad. Enemy at the Gates starts off much like Saving Private Ryan, a bunch of young, raw recruits forced into deadly combat where very little of them will survive the slaughter that awaits them. Law survives the battle and meets up with propaganda writer Fiennes who gets him assigned to the sniper division. Law is elevated to hero status to raise troop morale and the Germans bring in Ed Harris to kill Law. This sounds quite good you would think. And for the most part it is good. The only thing that stops it from being all good is the inclusion of Weisz as the love interest for Law. All it serves to do is slow down the movie and break up the cracking tension you get from the taught sniper scenes. The actors to well with a good script, although when Bob Hoskins shows up you keep expecting him to break into a cockney accent and say something like 'cor blimey guvnor, love a duck'. Ed Harris in particular is good and is in turn likeable, but also cold and calculating. For a film set in Russia though everyone seems to have a British accent! Direction is first rate with the film boasting the same washed out grey look that Saving Private Ryan sported. Although the war scenes don't quite have the same emotional effect as that film. The sniper scenes though are the stand out. You can cut the tension with a knife. Enemy at the Gates is good film that could have been great if it wasn't for the love story. It is well worth a watch though, check it out.

6/10 for Enemy At The Gates. Poster quote - Love is the enemy.