Enemy at the Gates

For better or worse, the critical and commercial success of Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" has led other directors to make their own, more "realistic" versions of the clichéd war movie. As a consequence, the level of violence and gore shown onscreen has been upped a notch or two.

However, they seem to be missing the point, since the stories themselves haven't necessarily improved or gotten more realistic.

A high-profile entry is "Enemy at the Gates," a big-budget war thriller that sets up a nice little cinematic cat-and-mouse game but manages to fumble it with conventional, clichéd and unrealistic storytelling.

But really, what can you expect from a film that doesn't even have the courage to credit its source material? (The title is taken from a book by William Craig, which addresses some of the same material.)

The setting is World War II-era Russia in the earliest days of the Battle of Stalingrad — the first real setback for the German Army, which had been running roughshod over most of Europe at that point.

At first, it appears the Germans will easily rout the Red Army, as the badly outmanned and undersupplied Russian soldiers are mowed down by their German counterparts.

That is, until the Soviets figure out that their battle strategies should include teams of snipers. Prompting the decision are the actions of young soldier Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), a skilled marksman who manages to take out five German officers in quick succession. He's hailed as a hero, and his deeds are extolled by political officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), who is there to witness them first-hand.

But Vassili is uneasy about his newfound notoriety and not without good reason. Sensing that the tide may be turning in Stalingrad, the Germans send their own assassin in to take him out: much-honored Major Konig (Ed Harris), who always seems to be one step ahead of Vassili.

Meanwhile, Vassili and Danilov find their friendship tested when they both fall for the same woman, Tania (Rachel Weisz), a soldier who's asked to be reassigned to the fighting.

That latter subplot is surely the movie's weakest point and seems to be a concession on the part of filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud. If that isn't bad enough, it undercuts what to that point had been an entertaining concept, and it dominates the final third of the film.

"Enemy at the Gates" feels at least a half-hour too long, and its attempts to broach such subjects as hero worship and propaganda get lost as the love triangle is played up instead.

Then there are the many varied accents of the performers. While most of the Russian characters sound British (including Bob Hoskins, who is ludicrously over-the-top as Nikita Krushchev), the Germans sound American (though Harris does mute his natural New York accent).

Still, there are times when the duel between the characters played by Law and Harris makes it watchable, even though the conclusion is disappointing and seems inappropriate.

"Enemy at the Gates" is rated R for wartime violence (the bulk of it being sniper fire and bombings), graphic gore (some shown in close-up), scattered use of profanity, simulated sex, brief partial female nudity and use of ethnic slurs and crude slang terms. Running time: 131 minutes.

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