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Movies / Upcoming / Enemy at the Gates
Enemy at the Gates

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Enemy at the Gates (2001)

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Reviews Counted:133

Fresh:71

Rotten:62

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: Atmospheric and thrilling, Enemy at the Gates gets the look and feel of war right. However, the love story seems out of place.

Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $50,507,533

Synopsis: September 1942. The German Army has advanced to the gates of Stalingrad. The Russian Army holds on desperately. It is so poorly equipped that every pair of soldiers is given a single rifle--the... September 1942. The German Army has advanced to the gates of Stalingrad. The Russian Army holds on desperately. It is so poorly equipped that every pair of soldiers is given a single rifle--the second man only gets the weapon when the first is cut down. Trapped in no man's land between the opposing armies, Russian recruit Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) finally acquires a rifle from Political Officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). Danilov is astonished when Zaitsev picks off several German officers. On their return to the Russian lines, Danilov writes about Zaitsev's exploits in the army newspaper. Zaitsev is assigned to a sniper unit. He kills more German officers and, thanks to Danilov, becomes a hero. In retaliation, the Germans bring in sharpshooter Major König (Ed Harris) from Berlin--to hunt Zaitsev. The two snipers engage in a desperate duel, as the appalling Battle of Stalingrad rages. In ENEMY AT THE GATES, director Jean-Jacques Annaud uses a palate of dull greens, blues, and greys to tell the powerful, true story of Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev. The film is distinguished by fine performances from Law, Fiennes, Rachel Weisz as a female soldier, and Bob Hoskins as Nikita Khrushchev--with Harris particularly notable as the chilly, aristocratic König. [More]

Starring: Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins

Starring: Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins, Ed Harris, Ron Perlman

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Screenwriter: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard
Producer: John D. Schofield, Jean-Jacques Annaud
Composer: James Horner
Studio: Paramount Pictures

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Reviews for Enemy at the Gates

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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No review available.

comment Comment
10/26/01
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

You’d have to say this film is a glorious and lovable failure...

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
07/27/01
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While it does have some solid moments of action, the film as a whole is laughable.

Full Review Source: Movie Views | comment Comment
05/18/09
Ryan Cracknell
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views

Enemy at the Gates won't find too many friends at the box office -- fans of war movies (and of Jude Law) will appreciate it, but there isn't much for everyone else in this mid-March downer.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
11/20/08
Hollywood.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There’s a decent movie buried in here somewhere, but the lousy love triangle and ultimate lack of focus make this WWII drama a bit hard to take.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Sacramento News & Review

Flatulent hero-worship of a man played by a tired-looking actor who deserves funkier roles.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/30/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

There's never much risk of reality intruding--just a lot of histrionic James Horner music nd plenty of designer stubble on the soldiers' faces.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
02/09/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Set-pieces get you so far (and Annaud delights in blowing this set to pieces), but the script's shortcomings aren't camouflaged by the decision to adopt Home Counties' accents as the film's lingua franca.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Annaud shows a real knack for suspense here, enough to make me hope he will do more action-adventure in the future.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
12/06/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

If only ambition was the bar at which to measure the quality of motion pictures, Enemy at the Gates could sit atop the best of the year.

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
11/23/04
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

There's ambition, and then there's pretense. It's a common mistake for both filmmakers and filmgoers to mistake the latter for the former.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
05/22/03
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Worth the trouble, but make sure to leave the history notes at home.

Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | comment Comment
02/26/03
Harry Guerin
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

It generally succeeds at telling a truly heroic story, providing yet another vehicle to showcase the talents of Law and Harris, and of their supporting cast.

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

[It's] clearly meant to measure up to or reach past what Steven Spielberg did in Saving Private Ryan. But it is one of the poorest imitations I have seen so far.

Full Review Source: Hot Button | comment Comment
01/07/03
David Poland
David Poland
Hot Button

No review available.

comment Comment
12/08/02
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The central thriller element of the film more than compensates for these deficiencies as well as any of the dodgier script moments.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/30/02
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

While Enemy at the Gates aims to do justice to history, it trips and falls on its own romantic pretense.

Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
10/15/02
Margaret A. McGurk
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

Enemy at the Gates is a good movie that could have been great, if not for the inflated running time.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
10/11/02
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

It's as if an obsessed movie nut had decided to collect every bad war-movie convention on one computer and program it to spit out a script.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
09/26/02
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
 
 
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Latest News for Enemy at the Gates

June 13, 2007: Rachel Weisz to Star in Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones
Remember when everyone was wondering why Rachel Weisz declined to be in the third "Mummy" movie? Here's why. More...

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