top notch war movie

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2005)

Absolutely top rate production values.
Pacing is very good. Characters are pretty good.
A mix of Hollywood techniques and European film-making. This gives it a slightly different feel than most Hollywood movies.
Sets the scene/background fairly well.
And as another reviewer pointed out, although the film take the point of view of the Russians, the movie goes out of its way to denigrate communism sufficiently to please the American neoliberal regime. Heavens knows what would happen these days to a film that actually portrayed socialism from a favorable perspective! I recommend it.