Not Bad, take out love story and would have been better

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2002)

I consider myself something of a WWII buff, and was excited that a major film would be released about 'Stalingrad'. In the opening scenes after Vasili's initial flashbacks they really build sympathy for the plight of the Russian soldier. With the NKVD with orders to shoot anyone retreating, the common soldier's issued only one rifle for every two troops, while the NKVD has the SMG's and MG's with orders to shoot Russian troops caught running back, you wonder how we backed a regime that would do this to their own men. The film made me feel there was potential for CGI in these films, it was not perfect, but it must have been easier then trying to get the real things when it came to planes and tanks. someone commented on the use of T-34/85's which were not available till around, or just after Kursk in '43, well maybe those were the only T-34's they could get, granted there are companies that specialize in making mock-ups of all sorts of vehicles as well.
With the Germans, I thought they could have varied the tanks and armored vehicles a little more, it seemed all the Germans had were Panzer III's and Sdkfz 251 series half tracks. Enough technical crap, I thought the acting was decent, the story alright save for the love triangle. One thing they tried to convey with Koenig was that, despite his aristocratic baring, and almost callous nature to the plight of the common soldier, a common trait of the German Officer Corp, especially the Wehrmacht, I got the notion he did feel he had a score to settle, having lost his son during the first week of the battle, and how he looked out for the kid, giving him warnings and what not. (Warning Spoiler) Having Ed Harris kill the kid was a ploy I think to kill what residual amount of sympathy you might have had for Ed Harris's character. It seems as always Hollywood likes to have situations broken down to purely black and white morality. The film had its problems but was still entertianing, a 6, possibly 7 out of 10. The friendship bewteen Danilov and Vasili was interesting, but relying on a love triangle to build conflict between them was a little cliche.