Title: Enemy at the Gates
BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc
Video: 1080p/AVC MPEG-4
Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese
Run time: 131 minutes
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Rating: R
Player used for review: LG BH200
My take: (the breakdown)
Enemy at the Gates is one of those war films that it seems like it should indeed be purely factual, but that is not the case with this plot. The story focuses on Vasilli Zaitsev and his actions as a Soviet sniper in Stalingrad. The time is September-November 1942 and the Soviets have been giving ground to the Germans for several months during Operation Barbarossa. Zaitsev and fellow snipers are demoralizing the German ranks by knocking off their officers one at a time. This brings a showdown between Zaitsev and Koenig, a German major who supposedly was head of their sniper school in Germany. Now other than journals their is no actual proof that Koenig ever existed, but maybe one day historians will find something concrete to show that he existed. I say this is worth a rental for everyone and a purchase for fans.
I just recently sold the SD DVD version of this movie, but I had watched it many times. From the opening scenes it is quite apparent that the Blu-ray version has much better rendition of colors. The red Soviet flags are extremely bright and flesh tones are accurate as well. Blacks are resolved for the most part, but they do struggle in a few places. Fine detail is really where the film suffers. One scene may be sharp as a tack while the next is soft so I think that this title missed out on a needed remaster. Grain is also rather heavy, but it never spikes or gets out of control. This is a decent transfer, but I felt that Paramount could have done more to get it looking its best.
The audio is about the same animal as the video. Dialogue is clear and understandable, but there are some problems. The bass never really kicks in with there's a nearby explosion or gunshot. Also, the surrounds get a lot of clamoring and music, but they don't get much in the way of explosions or bullets flying by. This is by no means a terrible TrueHD track, but it certainly could have been better.
We get two average making of features totaling about 35 minutes. We also get nine deleted scenes totaling 10 minutes and the film's trailer in HD. All of these features other than the trailer are 480, which brings my score for supplements down a bit.
Movie: 7/10
VQ: 7/10
AQ: 7.5/10
Supplements: 2/10
Final word: Worth a rental
As always thanks for reading folks.