Pick off a Little, Talk a Little

Rating: Null/10 (19 October 2001)

This movie has a great opening, but it gets pretty lackluster after Law becomes a sniper hero. Problems: (1) Too many notes. One of the most over-scored movies I've ever seen. Shostakovich's heirs should complain about plagiarism. And if I never hear a crooning Russian chorus again... (2) Ed Harris plays John Glenn, not a Bavarian noblemen. I don't think Americans are good at playing nobility; they just don't get it. And Harris doesn't give the proper sense of menace. (3) It drags. One cat and mouse scene after another, not building on each other. (4) The crowd and battle scenes are too obviously choreographed, with a well positioned rock here, a body falling in the middle of the frame there. It's as if the director watched the burning of Atlanta in GWtW and moved it to Stalingrad. The art direction is just too artistic and doesn't get the horror of Stalingrad right. (5) It's yakky and intellectually pretentious (if not shallow), as only a French-conceived movie can be. (6) I thought the love scene was inventive, but the grimaces they were making, I was wondering what the problem was under those blankets. I hope if there's ever a director's cut, that he does cut it (and 3/4 of the music).