Enemy at the Gates Blu-ray Review

Enemy at the Gates

Blu-ray Review
Paramount Home Entertainment
Released: May 19, 2009

Enemy at the Gates is a very well-done war movie, the type of war movie that will grab you, pull you in, and keep you interested from start to finish.  The film has thankfully been released on the Blu-ray format thanks to Paramount.

Enemy at the Gates is a World War II film which is seen as a classic in the eyes of many.  It tells the story of a group headed up by Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) and their push of resistance against what is going out in the year 1942 with the Nazis, Germany, and Russia.

This is an all-star cast to say the very least with Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Ed Harris, and others playing phenomenal roles throughout.

The story told here does a great job of following Vassili and really tying you into all of the characters, great stuff for a war movie!

The video transfer is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio in full 1080p with some great black levels, but colors which could have been a bit more vibrant in spots.  Still, a strong upgrade from what we have seen in past DVD releases.

The audio is presented in a Dolby TrueHD 5 .1 mix and does a great job of trying to capture all of the action sequences, but could have used the subwoofer a bit more aggressively in spots.

The extras here are very standard, starting out with a making-of featurette that runs for 20-minutes.  This is followed up by a look at the actors and director talking about the characters, and is capped off with deleted scenes and the trailer.

Enemy at the Gates, despite the lacking extras, is worth picking up on Blu-ray as it simply is one of the best WWII movies ever made.

Film: 9.0 Not the perfect war movie, Saving Private Ryan was better, but a great one in its own right.

Video: 9.0 The video transfer is very strong, a big upgrade from the DVD release.

Audio: 8.0 Audio could have been more aggressive.

Extras: 7.0 Some Blu-ray exclusives could have really helped this release.

Final Score: 8.4

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