I had never heard about this movie when I first saw it on television, so I really had no idea what to expect. If the movie hadn't captured my interest, I'm sure I would have changed the channel after just a few minutes. However, the sheer intensity of the opening segment where hundreds of Russian soldiers were literally thrown into the German lines practically unarmed (and with "political officers" behind them threatening to shoot them if they slowed at all in their advance) fascinated me. In fact, I remember barely breathing and feeling VERY tense during this segment--now that's great film making! The scene slows after nearly all these Russian troops are needlessly wasted. Remaining alive in a bunker is a political officer (Joseph Fiennes--the KGB man who enforces Stalin's mad directives and insures proper communist thinking among the soldiers) and a common soldier (Jude Law). They are pinned down and seemingly about to die. Fiennes is about to take a chance at attacking a group of five Germans--hoping to take them by surprise. He's obviously nervous and, as a political officer, probably useless when it comes to actual fighting. He asks Law if he can shot. "A little" is his reply--and he takes the gun. Then, like a shadow, he methodically kills all five Germans--timing his shots with incoming artillery rounds to cover the gunshots. Fiennes is absolutely amazed with the marksmanship and from then on, makes Law's character a hero of the Great Patriotic Struggle.

All this occurs in the first half hour of the film. Where it goes from there and the showdown with Law and Ed Harris is something not to be missed. This is probably the most tension-filled and realistic war film I have ever seen. Great job done by all.

This effective movie has a great, epic background over which to play the story - the battle of Stalingrad in World War II, which left the city in smouldering ruins and hundreds of soldiers (on both sides) dead. Like with most modern blockbusters, the budget is big (the biggest in Europe, it has been said),and there are plenty of authentic bombing raids and gun battles in this action-packed movie which only slightly drags towards the end. CGI fighters spit bombs down on to the ruined streets and the smoke from dozens of explosions fills the sky to great effect in some truly breath-taking battle sequences. The film doesn't shy away from the violence either, preferring to show in graphic detail the sight of bullets erupting through bodies and exploding heads, blood everywhere, particularly in a disturbingly realistic scene showing enemy fire peppering a group of soldiers huddled together on a boat.

Over this intense background plays a story that is in parts a thriller, a tragedy, and a romance. The various plot strands are mingled perfectly to make one smooth-running film as a whole with well-drawn characters you can really care about. In particular, Jude Law gives a convincing portrayal of an innocent farmer boy, initially terrified out of his life when he is thrown headlong into battle, and gradually turning into a war hero through the propaganda of his friend Danilov (an understated and effective turn from Joseph Fiennes).

The initial sequence in which Law proves his worth as a sniper is an excellently-shot piece of action. Into the story comes Rachel Weisz, as the love interest, a female Russian soldier, and there's even a love triangle thrown in there too for good measure between her, Law and Fiennes. However, most scenes are stolen by Ed Harris (looking very much like Anton Diffring) as Major Konig, a German war hero and top-notch sniper who engages in some tense and suspenseful cat-and-mouse games in the rubble of Stalingrad, sequences which are the best in the movie. Good support comes from a near-unrecognisable Bob Hoskins as Khrushchev, and Ron Perlman as a fellow sniper with a mouth full of metal teeth.

ENEMY AT THE GATES is a well-made and intelligent blockbuster, convincingly portraying the realism of the war, peppered with many memorable scenes such as the macabre image of a young boy hanging from ruins on the horizon. Although the outcome is to be expected, the journey there is an eventful and often surprising one and never less than watchable. A shame that all modern blockbusters aren't often as intelligently scripted or acted as this film is.

It's the fall of 1942. Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) grew up hunting with his father in the woods. He, Tania (Rachel Weisz) and countless other untrained recruits are brought up to the front at Stalingrad. He and Commisar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) survive a suicidal charge. Vassili kills 5 Germans in the aftermath and Danilov writes about him. Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins) seizes the opportunity to make him a star. Opposing him is the aristocratic German sniper Major König (Ed Harris).

The opening is an amazing opera of mass destruction. Then it's a matter of a chess game. It's a fascinating cat and mouse game in the ruins of the city. I'm glad that nobody decided to talk in a fake Russian accent. That would be too distracting. This is a rare good American war movie not about Americans.