Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The year is 1942 and the Nazis are cutting a deadly swath through Russia. Under the leadership of Kruschev, the citizens of Stalingrad are mounting a brave resistance, spurred by the exploits of their local hero, Vassili Zaitsev. An expert sniper, Vassili's deeds have become legendary - thanks to propaganda produced by Vassili's best friend, a political officer named Danilov. To stop Vassili, the Germans dispatch their best sniper, Major Konig, to Stalingrad. When Vassili and Danilov both fall in love with a beautiful soldier, Danilov deserts his friend, leaving Vassili to face his German counterpart alone. As the city burns, Vassili and Konig begin a cunning game of cat and mouse, waging a private war for courage, honor and country.

This often overlooked film is one of my favorite war films of the last decade. While not as epic as Saving Private Ryan and not as poetic as The Thin Red Line, this film succeeds on many levels, not to mention that I’m a sucker for sniper films. Following the true events during WWII, Enemy at the Gates is about Vassili Zaitsev a sniper in Russia’s army who after meeting a political officer under unfortunate circumstances, becomes propelled into Soviet fame as he dispatches countless Nazi’s with his rifle. Of course the Nazi’s are not as happy about this so they send in their top marksmen to take care of this. What ensues is a standoff that had two countries total attention despite all that was happening around them. I’ll admit there was some aspects of this film that I think are a bit of a stretch but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

The HD presentation was a bit of a letdown for this one. I owned the HD DVD import of this one as well and wasn’t that impressed with that presentation either making me think this could just be one of those titles that needs a lot of work to look its best. There are obvious video artifacts in random parts of the film including video noise, chroma artifacts and some light ringing. The image also has a softness to it that can be a bit distracting at times. While the overall dimension and fine detail is a smidge better than the DVD counterpart, the difference isn’t nearly as obvious as most Blu-ray titles.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is good, but like the video there seems to be something missing. Dynamic range wasn’t nearly as impressive as I was hoping for and the soundstage doesn’t have a real sense of separation during the more intense moments. Low bass is okay, but not as gratifying as most of the newer films in this genre. Dialogue sounds good though, with natural tones and decent imaging across the main soundstage.

Extras are pretty much the same as the DVD and include a look at the production along with some deleted scenes and the trailer.

I was hoping for more from this presentation and this was one of the more disappointing from Paramount of late. Still, this is a great film that is just as intense today as it was the first time. Worth a rental.