Plainly, when it came to production value, no expense was spared. But while this can be impressive, it can also spell trouble. In that, the massive production design is sometimes meant to compensate for a lackluster script. Unfortunately, that is the case and it’s always regrettable really. Movies like ENEMY AT THE GATES should be fantastic and multifaceted, on countless levels. But how can you not be disappointed when so much effort and creativity spawns something average? With this film, it boils down to simple enjoyability. That special ingredient that makes all good movies work just isn’t here, and you’ll undoubtedly leave unsatisfied as I did. But ENEMY AT THE GATES is worth seeing once. In fact, I think that should be an official category at Blockbuster: “Movies worth seeing ONCE!” :-)

      The confrontation between Ed Harris and Jude Law works and is the real high point, but again, it’s not enough. Ultimately, this director and his approach were all wrong. Somebody like Spielberg would’ve improved on this vastly and made it far more entertaining. Too bad we can’t go back and start over, huh.