in `enemy at the gates’ , jude law is a gifted russian sniper made hero by a political officer named danilov ( joseph fiennes ) who uses him in a propaganda newspaper to raise the hopes of the soldiers and people of stalingrad .
it’s world war ii , and the russian-german standoff in town could determine the outcome of things for the motherland .
law’s vassili is the russian’s top pawn to victory .
lots of war stuff happens .
an older , german version of jude’s character played by ed harris shows up halfway into the proceedings .
he’s equally talented , and the two men play a cat and mouse game trying to kill each other .
they constantly switch roles , as the war fades far into the background .
the cast also includes the terrific rachel weisz as a love interest for both vassili and danilov
the set-up is decent , and so are the production values .
boasting a wide range of grimy locales , greasy hair , and tattered costumes , the art direction prospers .
the actors , however , suffer the problem matt damon had in `saving private ryan’ .
either their eyes , teeth , skin , or a combination of other features looked too white and clean .
with dirt and blood all around , the blinding teeth or bright eyes of these actors divert attention from the action .
that said , the players are mostly good in their roles , although i don’t think ed harris was really trying .
maybe he realized his role struck a difficult chord in one-notedom .
while the film is technically about snipers , there are far too many predictable sniping scenes .
director jean-jacques annaud expects us to view each tense situation with jude and some cohort in a tight spot as edgy and exciting , but after about the sixth time , in which we realize that jude is not going to die , it’s relatively pointless .
we get that he’s talented , okay , let’s move on .
that’s the problem with `enemy at the gates’ ; it just doesn’t know when to stop .
witness the wasted seventeen minutes that could have been spent elsewhere .
reestablishing his title as the most beautiful ( and often talented ) man on film , jude law carries the movie .
without him , this costly production would have gone into the ground .
the story and acting are of good quality , but there’s never a sense of authenticity or reality .
something about this war movie is undeniably modern , and it loses its feeling .
strange enough , the screenplay is based on the true story of a real russian sniper .