A brilliant war film, but not much else

Rating: 6/10 (22 June 2008)

An excellent war film, and at the times when it depicts the battles against the Germans it is brilliant and absorbs you in the moment. Also the brutality of the Russian commissars against their own men is fantastically portrayed. This movie influenced the first Call of Duty game in the way that Saving Private Ryan did for Medal of Honor. However some aspects of the plot are too Hollywood, such as the romance between Law and Weisz which I find completely out-of-place in a film such as this, particularly how she is always so well kept. Plus the bunker they hide in is far too well stocked, what happened to living in sewers and eating rats? One of the reasons the Battle of Satlingrad is so infamous. Once the film moves into the second half, the two snipers seem to almost forget they are in the middle of the greatest battle of all time, and the story becomes a bit too self-centred. To conclude it is an excellent, authentic war film, but the plot is too blockbuster, and thus loses some of its realism.