a review of 兵临城下

Enemy at the Gates is a textbook Hollywood blend of drama and romance, like a traditional war movie with some added grittiness to update it a little to modern standards, although they 'forgot' to make the Russian soldiers speak Russian in stead of English. The main characters lack the necessary depth and credibility, and are too good-looking. Furthermore, I found it strange that a soldier branded as a public icon (the skilled sniper Vasily Zaytsev) wasn't constantly covered by fellow soldiers, but was repeatedly sent to dangerous situations on his own. The melodramatic orchestral score started to annoy me, and the story starts to drag because the movie is too lengthy. I gave Enemy at the Gates two and a half out of five stars mainly because of the impressive battlefield scenes and environments.