May as well have been "Pearl Harbor"

Rating: 4/10 (27 March 2001)

It could have been the Achilles heal of expectation, or the hang over from the sick feeling of seeing Julia Roberts win an academy award, but this movie was simply terrible. Jean-Jacques Annaud had it all before him, a historic individual confrontation, the most epic battle of World War II, and the luxury of having the film released months before the Jerry Bruckheimer tainted "Pearl Harbor" yet he managed to waste it all. Rather than focus on the litany of human and military dramas of the battle for Stalingrad, Annaud gave us a formulaic love triangle complete with story book ending. In today's Hollywood, cinematic convenience is the standard rather than the exception. Yet "Enemy..." asks the audience to not just to suspend their belief, but to shelve it. The battle between Vassili Zaitsev and Major Koenig is littered with so many holes it is insulting. The total lack of creativity is perhaps no more glaring than in the complete waste of Ron Perlman's character Koulikov, whose death arises out of circumstances so lacking in believability I thought I walked into a John Woo film. Insipid dialogue, poor attention to continuity, and plot break downs make Charlie a dull fish. If you must, rent this film, but do not support it at the box office.