Good entertaining stuff.

Rating: 6/10 (28 November 2007)

As a history of the conflict in Stalingrad this isn't up to much, it sticks to an anti-communist line portraying the Russians as unwilling to fight the Germans and having to be threatened or tricked into doing so and there is an annoying little speech at the end about how communism was a bad idea and couldn't work.
I don't watch war movies for the history, very few are accurate and most take sides and push political agendas, I watch them for the entertainment and this is good entertainment.
The actors deliver good performances although Law doesn't have a lot of acting to do, it is Fiennes who gets most of the dialogue and supporting characters also deliver good solid performances.
The direction is good, it gives sweeping views of the various scenes and doesn't fall back on gore or jerky close ups.
The pace is quick with lots of mini battles and a few close escapes.
The romantic triangle is largely irrelevant and seems forced but it doesn't hurt the film.
There is very little new here though, the dialogue is uninteresting and the action is fairly standard stuff.
There are a few surprises in the plot and the ending is good with a few dark twists added in to tie things up.
This is a light weight war film, worth watching but nothing to get excited about.