What Bothered Me
...is how obvious it is when watching this that a very inspired movie got buried under the Hollywood varnish.
The opening scene is one of the best I've watched. Even on paper, that scene would jump out at me. Throughout the film there are excellent scenes, situations and lines that are largely wasted due to dull direction. If I were a detective, I'd suspect that an amazing script underwent a rewrite to insert a love story and sex scene, and to pepper the film with over-the-top anti-Soviet bias. (Like many have pointed out, ridiculous statements like "We have no tanks, artillery or planes at Stalingrad" are total fabrications.) Then give the film an average director and even a strong script can't save it.
One big disappointment is something few other people point out: The music. I'm not here to debate the quality of the music, it's just obvious that underscoring the entire film with an orchestra is one of the major elements holding the film back. Sometime not so long ago, people figured out that NOT adding music to war scenes could vastly heighten the tension in that scene. You'd think this idea wouldn't be wasted on people obviously making the spiritual sequel to "Saving Private Ryan," where the most gripping scenes do NOT have ANY music throughout, thereby depriving the audience of an emotional safety net telling them how to feel. Since SPR, other unforgettable movies (The Pianist, Band of Brothers, etc.) are also aware of (and make use of) this fact.
A lot of this film borders on American propaganda. The realities of life under Stalin were not so much explored as caricatured. This reads like a movie made before the Iron Curtain fell, where all we knew about Soviets and Soviet people were the government-propagated stereotypes. What went on in Russia during WWII was NOT pretty, but the director (in his statements) is clearly not interested in any sort of understanding of the period.
Perhaps I expect too much from this movie. It's an alright film, about 3/5. Some movies are 3-stars for completely uninspired but well-done, I think this is 3-stars for inspired but underdone/overdone. I'm just dying for a good film on the Eastern Front and/or snipers, this doesn't hit either of those marks. I don't know if anyone else had these same gripes, but there it is.