Rating- * * (2/5)
This movie is a perfect microcosm of the overall problem that seemed to pervade into most of the films this year. It has the potential to be such a great film but the studios feel like they can still sell it without having to put in any effort. The result is a film with a few good elements that are too loosely tied together to make anything that’s worth watching. The cast is very impressive; Jude Law as a World War II Soviet sniper; Rachel Weisz as his love interest; Ed Harris as Law’s Nazi counterpart; Joseph Feinnes as the publisher of a Soviet propaganda paper; and Bob Hoskins as a young Nikita Kruschev. A stellar cast by Hollywood standards and their performances are probably the best part of the movie. However, there are far too few scenes that actually utilize the talents of these actors. The vast majority of the movie is spent taking us through the battlegrounds of Stalingrad. These scenes might have been impactful if none of us had ever heard of Saving Private Ryan. Realistic war gore only has a real effect on you the first time you see it. It exposes us to the true horrors of war and even educates us to some degree by showing the kind of things that drove our grandfathers insane. But after the first time, subjecting yourself to that level of violence is more sadistic than educational. So after all that, what I’m trying to say is…enough with the realistic war violence! Anyway, aside from the actors’ performances and an interesting subplot involving Law’s rise as a hero in Russia through the propagation efforts of Feines and Kruschev, this movie is a lot of smoke, mirrors, and bullets through unsuspecting heads. If you must watch it, do it on an empty stomach.