Could and should have been better

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2009)

I have not read the book, nor did I know much about the real story before watching this. As I understand, however, it is more interesting than this. This actually does start to go for the tension-filled world that is sniping(and may I add, they move excessively in this, Zaitsev in actuality remained still for *days*, ready to fire), with excellent details, but it seems they were afraid to take the full step. Ah, to think of what could have been. There are a couple of impeccable battle sequences, highly intense and engaging. We get a ton of Hollywood crap, including an argument against socialism(because, you know, the masses are not unhappy and living in fear and risk under capitalism; it's the least negative system, not a perfect one), a schmaltzy love triangle, and some "this time, it's personal!"-style conflict. The acting is great. Law, Harris, Weisz and Fiennes all do marvelous in the leads, Perlman is always fun to watch and Hoskins completely *nails* Khrushchev. Production values leave little to be desired; however, the design utterly fails to convey the extreme weather conditions, as well as, for the majority of it, the threat of life near the front lines. Impartiality would have made this a far superior film. Repeating a point of view that the American audience already agrees with isn't impressive. Is the US still that terrified of Communism? A skilled director can put forth the idea that something is right or wrong without bluntly having characters state it. The DVD comes with "additional scenes", varying in length, a theatrical trailer, and two featurettes that I will review on their individual pages. There is a little sexuality, disturbing content and brief brutal violence in this. I recommend this to fans of those involved, and/or war flicks. There are considerably smarter ones out there, though. 7/10