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.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 15, 2023

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.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 2, 2020

Everything in the movie is obstinately stupid.

| Jan 30, 2018

more character development and depth would vastly improve this

| Original Score: C- | Mar 4, 2011

Tense and violent WWII movie.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 24, 2010

it could have held back on the parts featuring boredom because they did tend to drag the suspense down a bit

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 9, 2010

While it does have some solid moments of action, the film as a whole is laughable.

| May 18, 2009

Enemy at the Gates won't find too many friends at the box office -- fans of war movies (and of Jude Law) will appreciate it, but there isn't much for everyone else in this mid-March downer.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 20, 2008

There's a decent movie buried in here somewhere, but the lousy love triangle and ultimate lack of focus make this WWII drama a bit hard to take.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Flatulent hero-worship of a man played by a tired-looking actor who deserves funkier roles.

| Original Score: D | Jul 30, 2007

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

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 6, 2005

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 5, 2005

Annaud shows a real knack for suspense here, enough to make me hope he will do more action-adventure in the future.

| Original Score: B | Dec 6, 2004

If only ambition was the bar at which to measure the quality of motion pictures, Enemy at the Gates could sit atop the best of the year.

| Original Score: 2.5 | Nov 23, 2004

There's ambition, and then there's pretense. It's a common mistake for both filmmakers and filmgoers to mistake the latter for the former.

| Original Score: C+ | May 22, 2003

Worth the trouble, but make sure to leave the history notes at home.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 26, 2003

It generally succeeds at telling a truly heroic story, providing yet another vehicle to showcase the talents of Law and Harris, and of their supporting cast.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2003

[It's] clearly meant to measure up to or reach past what Steven Spielberg did in Saving Private Ryan. But it is one of the poorest imitations I have seen so far.

| Jan 7, 2003