Enemy at the Gates

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Enemy at the Gates

R

Released Mar 16, 2001

2h 11m

War

Drama

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54%

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140 Reviews

82%

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100,000+ Ratings

Vassili (Jude Law) is a young Russian sharpshooter who becomes a legend when a savvy polical officer (Joseph Fiennes) makes him the hero of his propaganda campaign. Their friendship is threatened when both men fall in love with a beautiful female soldier (Rachel Weisz). As the battle for the city rages, Vassili faces the ultimate challenge when the Nazi command dispatches its most elite marksman (Ed Harris) to hunt down and kill the man who has become the hope of all Russia.

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Critics Consensus

Atmospheric and thrilling, Enemy at the Gates gets the look and feel of war right. However, the love story seems out of place.

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Tense and violent WWII movie.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 24, 2010

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

There's never much risk of reality intruding--just a lot of histrionic James Horner music nd plenty of designer stubble on the soldiers' faces.

Feb 9, 2007

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Time Out

Set-pieces get you so far (and Annaud delights in blowing this set to pieces), but the script's shortcomings aren't camouflaged by the decision to adopt Home Counties' accents as the film's lingua franca.

Jan 26, 2006

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Michael Sragow

Baltimore Sun

Without its ambitious underpinnings, these virtuoso set pieces wouldn't flicker with emotion. In Enemy at the Gates, gravity has entertainment value, at least to those who can respond to wartime fervor.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 15, 2023

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Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

Time and time again, Enemy at the Gates squanders its pulse-pounding momentum on long, high-falutin' stretches of pointy-headed pretentiousness that just get in the road of the good stuff.

Rated: 2.5/5

Oct 2, 2020

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Mark Steyn

The Spectator

Everything in the movie is obstinately stupid.

Jan 30, 2018

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Sea G

How can it have one song throughout the entirety of the movie? It wasn't terrible, but the painfully repetitive song drove me a little nutty.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/20/25

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Michael V

single bullet can change history. Enemy at the Gates (Stalingrad in France and L'Ennemi aux portes in Canada) is a 2001 war film directed, co-written, and produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, 🔫 It’s good 🙂 Worth a watch. I’d recommend it if you like this genre 👍🏼 S A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/20/25

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Edward F

Very good movie. As an English speaker I appreciated the Russians and Germans speaking English. One of the best sniper movies ever, and probably in the top 15-20 war movies of all time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/24/24

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Damyn S

The obvious misplaced British and American accents can be forgiven here (as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator effortlessly demonstrates). But the respective characters appear to be immune to the deplorable and barbaric conditions of World War Two’s bloodiest battle. Law and Harris easily dismiss Stalingrad's deteriorating barbarism for a cat and mass vendetta. Meanwhile, soldiers by the millions succumb to the struggle between communism and fascism which the film consciously neglects. As a result, we are treated to an unrealistic love-triangle between Vasily, Danilov and Tania. This fixation by Annaud deviates from the film’s strengthens and overall tone. Consider the early crossing of the Volga by Vasily, note how the film struggles to recapture that same ferocity throughout. Its attempt to reimagine Stalingrad is commendable, but it falls short with its character arcs that merely aid Vasily in-between sniper confrontations. History’s most violent showdown is dismissed in favour of a passionate romance, leaving minimal room to pay homage to the millions sacrificed.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/16/24

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mark g

Great action scenes. The sets are also incredible. Law and Harris are good in the leads. The romance really felt tacked on and less than believable. Does a good job of revealing the USSR's disdain for the lives of their own soldiers. Parts of the movie are great, primarily the battle scenes, but overall the film is merely pretty good.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/08/24

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Godfrey D

Its a really good movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/07/24

Full Review

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Jean-Jacques Annaud

Director

Joseph Fiennes

Danilov

Jude Law

Vasily Zaitsev

Rachel Weisz

Tania Chernova

Bob Hoskins

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Synopsis

Vassili (Jude Law) is a young Russian sharpshooter who becomes a legend when a savvy polical officer (Joseph Fiennes) makes him the hero of his propaganda campaign. Their friendship is threatened when both men fall in love with a beautiful female soldier (Rachel Weisz). As the battle for the city rages, Vassili faces the ultimate challenge when the Nazi command dispatches its most elite marksman (Ed Harris) to hunt down and kill the man who has become the hope of all Russia.

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Producer: John D. Schofield, Jean-Jacques Annaud
Screenwriter: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: DOS, KC Medien AG, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Pictures, Swanford Films, Little Bird, Reperage
Rating: R (Strong Graphic War Violence|Some Sexuality)
Genre: War, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 16, 2001, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.4M
Runtime: 2h 11m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, DTS, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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