The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester except during vacations and exam weeks. Daily Egyptian online is uploaded at noon. It's not epic or romantic, it's not inspiring or suspenseful. OK, so the somewhat-true story of Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev sounds like great cinema.
Pacing is nil, and the final scenes seem unrelated and anticlimactic.
The whole film simply lacks the restraint and poetry needed to convey its heavy themes of love, loss and war. Of course, Mr. Law, you get bonus points for beauty. And the look of the film is sweeping and ambitious, with just enough grime and bearded extras to make it feel like Stalinist Russia. But I could have done without all those toppled statues of Communist greats that crowd every frame. And surely Russia means more than the caviar, vodka and potato stew that seem its only defining characteristics onscreen.