an opportunity missed

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2001)

I needed to see this film twice before I felt that I could comment. In my view this was definitely an opportunity missed. Setting aside the historical inaccuracies thrust upon us by the film industry and the strange need for the story to have a love-interest, I still enjoyed the presentation. Uniforms and equipment were excellent, even a purist like myself would excuse the T34/85's used. The action sequences were, for the most part, excellent if not foreshortened. Having built that superb set and with all the necessary in place, I find it so hard to believe that action sequences properly reflecting the harshness and bestial nature of Stalingrad could not have been on view. I must confess to being less than impressed with the digital effects used to show the bombing raids. On my first viewing I felt the film had been greatly miscast. Of all the main actors on view only the german major seemed right. Second and subsequent viewings mellowed my views but I still feel that there were others out there better suited to the characters portrayed. Certainly Bob Hoskins seemed to be out of place. The thing that , in my view, confines this film to the also-ran pile rather than placed it as one of the all-time great action films was the final showdown between the snipers. During the actual battle a political officer did indeed expose himself to draw the snipers fire [a finger, no more] and the thought that Danilov would do so without any warning to Zaitsev, to allow him to profit properly from teh revelation of position, was stupid to say the least. That the German Major would conduct himself with total professionalism throughout and then finally walk through an open area, failing to spot a man stood exposed at the front of a railway engine beggared belief. In short, the ingredients for one of the greatest war films ever made were undoubtedly available. The opportunity to do so was lost for avoidable reasons.