Powerful, Effective

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2001)

I thought this movie was very entertaining and I would highly recommend it.

The opening sequence was effectively, frighteningly intense. I would expect this film to be in the running at next years Academy awards for production and set design, cinematography and art direction.
The performances were very good, especially Jude Law, Ed Harris, and Rachel Weisz. Jude Law takes on a role that is essentially an 180 degree departure from the ebullient and confident Dickie Greenleaf (`The Talented Mr. Ripley'). His character in this movie is shy and humble, a simple farmer put into extraordinary circumstances and having to live up to a larger than life image as a hero, given to him by the Soviet political officer who uses him as an example and a morale booster. As the movie progresses you can see the changes in his face showing the cumulative effect of the stresses his character has to endure on a daily basis. By the end of the movie he is exhausted both mentally and physically.
The dialogue is rather sparse and simplistic, probably because it was written in English by a Frenchman, but it propels the storyline adequately. The movie's strength is really in the battle and several gripping cat-and-mouse sniper sequences, anyway. Much of the emotion and mood of the scenes was represented by the actor's facial expressions and the director's chosen emphasis on their eyes.
Despite many opinions to the contrary I thought the super-slow and super-quiet sex scene was touching, tender and very erotic (even though they were fully covered).
*SPOILERS* follow....
The director chose to change the way the sniper's duel was resolved, maybe because he felt seeing Vassili pick the German off from a great distance wouldn't be as dramatic as a final, face-to-face confrontation. Also, the final scene seemed almost an afterthought, but I left the theater feeling satisfied with the movie as a whole.