Good war story that meanders off point

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2001)

This is a war-within-a-war story based on a real WWII Soviet sniper upon whom the Soviets built much of their morale boosting war propaganda. Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) is an extraordinary marksman, pressed into service as a sniper in the Soviet army. Through a combination of effective sharpshooting and relentless coverage by propadanda minister Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), Vassili becomes a Soviet hero and a German nemesis. In response, the Germans send their best sniper, Major Konig (Ed Harris) to find Vassili and take him out. The result is a deadly game of cat and mouse where the lines between predator and prey blur.
Director Jean-Jaques Annaud (`Seven Years in Tibet') also collaborated in writing the screenplay which is mostly riveting, but too often loses focus. The film is generally well directed with an authentic wartime feel to it. While some have criticized it for looking too much like `Saving Private Ryan', I feel such a comparison is a compliment. Using outstanding cinematography as a model, and coming close to duplicating it is a positive, not a negative. There has also been a lot of criticism of the fact that the Russians don't have Russian accents and the Germans don't have German accents and thus it isn't realistic. I find this criticism ironic and without merit. How someone can accept as realistic the fact that all the characters are speaking English and then criticize as unrealistic the fact that they don't speak accented English is beyond me.
My main criticism of Annaud is his inability to stay locked on the main storyline, the story of the snipers. He feels compelled to throw in a meaningless love triangle and lots of other fluff that really add nothing to the story. The time would have been better spent delving deeper into the minds of the snipers and creating additional suspense filled confrontations.
Jude Law gives a fine follow-up to his outstanding performance in `The Talented Mr. Ripley' showing that he is here to stay. He strikes an excellent balance between Vassili's sense of duty and reluctance to be a hero, showing a character that is compelled to be courageous when he is really scared.
Rachel Weisz also turns in a strong performance though her character is totally superfluous to the main story. Bob Hoskins renders a fabulous wartime Khrushchev. Ed Harris is good as the German sharpshooter, but this is not among his better performances. Joseph Fiennes is also very good, although his is another role that is overemphasized needlessly.
This is a very good film that lost its opportunity to be great because of Annaud's inexplicable need to wander from a great storyline. I rated it 7/10. It is a good wartime thriller worth a look.