The Reel Rejects - ENEMY AT THE GATES (2001) IS GRIPPING!! MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!

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Starting point is 00:01:16 Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Anyways, we're going to get started with Enemy at the Gates. So Enemy at the Gates, commence. So we just watched Enemy at the Gates. If you are listening to us on Apple or Spotify, if you don't mind dropping a rating,

Starting point is 00:01:45 we would so appreciate it. Please drop us five stars. And also, if you want to get teas like these, Rejectnationshop.com, we would so appreciate it. And also, you look so cool when you do it too. look great um at all what did you think of enemy at the gates enemy at the gates was really great honestly uh gregg told us to watch this movie and i didn't know what to expect

Starting point is 00:02:09 but honestly i can genuinely say it's probably one of the better movies you watch here we watched a lot of great movies but we were out of all of the historical films i would say this is like up there for me this is like top three for sure and the fact that it was able to depict a period in time that i didn't really know super well as far as like the the german russian relationship and then being able to get us to care about these personal relationships between the sniper and this girl and this friendship and then this little boy was all really really well done you know they really did a good job of capturing the tension capturing the stakes of the personal stakes not only just the the larger you know

Starting point is 00:02:52 country to country stakes but yeah you're really getting you behind this guy and the fact that they were able to make him a hero and really get us to root behind him in the face of all his, you know, his struggle, I guess, you know, and his doubt and his ability to be good enough to take out this enemy, but to be someone who was able to do that in the face of all the adversity he had gone through over the course of the film was really well done. All the acting performances are really great the soundtrack was great you know the film did a really great job of building and keeping that tension and yeah really getting you invested in what it's like to be a sniper how difficult that is and you know the the the hardship of that game you know that two

Starting point is 00:03:43 snipers will play uh and trying to take the others lives uh but yeah i i had a i don't say a great time watching it i'm definitely not like devastated like head to toe but like they found a way to make this war film uh and even though it had tragedy to end on a positive note that gives you like a sense of hope for like yeah loveful persevere so yeah i would say this is definitely uh up there for me see you say there it was tough to be a sniper i what this taught me is as long as you put snow in your mouth it's a little bit easier so um but no i i i agree with a lot of uh things you have to say um i will say there's a lot of components in this film that i really appreciate first you got the world war two setting i think they just did a great job of uh just making us like

Starting point is 00:04:33 uh just get in this world and seeing all the devastation the horrors of that uh of that thing and i really did get that um i really feel like they effectively you know got that saving private ryan vibe that we kind of mentioned during the reaction from the graphic violence to uh all the bodies being laid down and such and so from sure the visceral yeah the it was definitely very visceral from the sound design to just all the potties that you see and and obviously how graphic uh and impressive some of these uh you know um bullet shots were as well uh with the squibs and such especially that one shot you count with ron perlman jumping and being shot like he was in in the head or wherever he was shot um so from the component of uh world war two i think they absolutely nailed um the aesthetic

Starting point is 00:05:20 the look. I really thought we were transported back to World War II. So great job there. From the journey with Jude Law's character to seeing him as a little boy, and then you get the immediate time jump. And then I love that little, again, it's, I mean, I think it's kind of obvious that it is him as a little boy. It's a little ominous, but it is kind of obvious that it is him. But still, it's kind of a, I could be wrong in my assessment, but I kind of felt it was a little bit of a bait and switch because you have the scene at the very beginning with all these guys who understandably so don't want to be in a war situation i wouldn't want to be there and you have the situation too where run towards the fire if you run the other way we're going to shoot you

Starting point is 00:06:05 and you got one soldier you know you got two two soldiers one getting a rifle the other one just getting the bullets and having to reload and you got all these guys looking fearful and scared and but having no choice but to run into there and i couldn't tell if jude law's character vasselli was a courageous a guy or he was just scared but i like that i couldn't tell it was ambiguous and then when he got the rifle and then we got that scene with him and um his buddy joseph fiends or however you say his name and then he took the rifle i'm like oh this dude's such a badass i like that they took their time and uh like you weren't sure as an audience member wait is this guy a badass or not. So I thought that was just beautiful timing right there, not rushing to let us

Starting point is 00:06:50 know that he's a badass in such a dire and scary situation. So I thought that was great. And I think the setup too at the beginning with him as a little boy and his grandfather teaching him how to properly fire a rifle and a sniper or whatever, I think that was a great setup for that as well. And then just seeing like what drives and motivates him and how he became that marksman as he is. So I think the film just really was paced properly in storytelling and character development as well. I think there's another component that I really appreciated in this film as well. You got an emotional layer in this film between Rachel and Jude Law's character. And it just adds such a beautiful touch to this film because you've got the horrors and the decimation of what's happening with World War II.

Starting point is 00:07:37 And then you've got this beautiful love story that kind of just pull. you away and makes you a little bit forget about the devastation that's happening there and gets you invested in this love story and now you got these two characters you're emotionally invested and you don't want to see anything happen to them and I just thought that that's a tricky thing to do in a world war two or just any kind of war film when you add you know romance into it and I thought they did a really nice job of balancing those two things out in this film where you got to focus on a love story and then you have to focus on you know the war too as well and I thought this film did a really good job because I was really just again so emotionally invested in these

Starting point is 00:08:15 characters I don't want anything to happen to them and on top of that you got two great actors I loved all their interactions you know you didn't rush that relationship as well we got to really get to know these characters and I love to because a big thing that you always talk about which I fully agree with Aaron we always talk about I want to get to know these characters want to know a little bit about their background and and let's get to see them develop a little bit those characters. And I loved getting to know, you know, through interactions and dialogue, getting to know a little bit about their background. Obviously, we got to see the beginning with Jude Law's character. But then when that beautiful and sad dialogue that Rachel's character

Starting point is 00:08:50 talked about with her parents and how they were both executed basically with, you know, with where the Germans were trying to save bullets, they just shot one and then the other one dragged the other one down. I'm like, okay. So, yeah, we understand why this one, yeah, and beautifully acted by her. We understand why. why this woman has volunteered to be in this war. It's not just war for her. It's personal. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:12 And, you know, her and Jude Love have a very common interest. And they also, too, it helps that they are just so, they have such beautiful chemistry with each other on top of their interactions, just get you again, just so invested in these characters. And also, too, I love that they take their time just adding backstories to all these characters. Like Ed Harris, I'm like, obviously we hate his character. His acting is good. You don't have an accent.

Starting point is 00:09:35 I didn't really have an accent, but which fun. It is what it is. It's not, it's just so great. It's fine. His performance was still good. He was cold. He was calculating. He was strategic. You really felt that Jude Law had met his match. But I did appreciate that there's this background of like what had happened to his son. And, you know, his, the whole reason why he's there is to stop Jude Law because they've made out this Superman, as you said, in the Russian papers to give hope to the people of Russian. Also to sway people to join the war, join the war. the cause, as you will. So it's understandable, like, hey, if we can stop their Superman, like, you know, we will stop the cause and we will crush them kind of thing. So we'll send our Superman to stop their Superman sort of thing. So I found that to be very interesting. And again, that's where I'm talking about these different components. You got a love story. You got World War II. You got this journey with the Jude Law's character just through all this adversity. And with this opponent, this one-on-one, this is where I make the born identity type of film like Assassin versus

Starting point is 00:10:36 assassin or sniper versus sniper there's so many different layers and components on top of it being a world war two film i just i really enjoyed this film and then you got the music by james horner to elevate um i mean yeah i just i really appreciated how delicate and and well-balanced and well-made this film was um i really enjoyed it yeah yeah i yeah likewise i also really enjoyed it i was going to say that kind of to build off of what you were talking about in the beginning the fact that you know, they didn't really have a choice between being in the war, having to go against people that are shooting at them, or if they were to divert, they were getting shot either way.

Starting point is 00:11:14 The fact that they were able to portray Russia in a, not a great light, but be able to find the humanity, find the way in to this story of two countries that are, who've done things obviously, obviously, that are like not more upright morally, you know, because, you know, when we see America, in war movies they're typically treated with like a like yeah america are the good guys but

Starting point is 00:11:41 i don't think they necessarily made russia the good guys they just found a personal angle in for the to represent like the hope of this country the hope of humanity even though you know their methodology of doing it was like a little nefarious but we found this this personal story to really kind of hone in on to latch ourselves to something that may be be on like a larger context we wouldn't be able to have a side with absolutely also too i i love what they did uh with uh the levity we get with even though he's apparently in the film with ron perlman that was great the 10 or 15 minutes we got with his character uh sad the way it happened it was also a crazy moment um also too like just talking about side characters i thought sasha

Starting point is 00:12:27 was great such a brave and great again in such a dire and scary situation of being in world war two to have the courage of a young little boy like that, it just shows what we can, the lengths we can go to as human beings in the face of fear like that. I think there's something to be said, and that's a beautiful message. And poor Sasha, I mean, because he was fighting,

Starting point is 00:12:51 not only was he fighting for his country, he was fighting for his hero, Vasseli. I mean, that meant everything. You could see the tears running through his eyes when he thought that he had, you know, passed away. So he was probably one of my favorite character. or Sasha. And I know I said boo Zasha a couple times when he was saying

Starting point is 00:13:07 He was bad at the time. No, no, no. I didn't think he was bad. I just He's a little kid at the end of the day. And also too, I was just... I was just making a tiny little joke like boo Sasha, you know, kind of thing. And like, hey, it's when you're again faced with a situation like then, you're just a little kid

Starting point is 00:13:25 like understandable that you give up information like that. So in the face of fear. But you're country with some chocolate and bacon. Yeah. But I mean also too I think he knew like how scary and dangerous Ed Harris's character was so I wouldn't have I wouldn't have hated his guts if he did the wrong thing there again being a little kid understandably so but the fact that he was really being a triple or double agent or whatever you want to say like that again very brave little kid um and I really appreciated his character and one last thing

Starting point is 00:13:53 I want to say before we get into the trivia or I'll let you say one final thing before we get into the trivia after I say this I really appreciated to um jude law's character I loved how, besides the fact that he was also strategic and such an awesome badass with the sniper. I loved how compassionate he was, how headstrong he was, how much he actually really had, the moral compass he had, how much he cared about his fellow soldiers. Like when his guy got shot, like, we saw at the beginning when, when they tried to retreat, when they saw the gunfire, like, oh, no, let's go back, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, we'll shoot our own guys. What did Jude Law do when he saw one of his guys get shot in the shoulder? dude, go back, go back, retreats. Like, he actually gave a shit about his, his soldiers.

Starting point is 00:14:35 Like, he looked at them as brothers and sisters in arms. Yeah. And I appreciated that about, like, those are characters I want to get behind. Those are characters I can relate to, I can resonate with. Like, the guys at the beginning shooting at their own soldiers, like, get back out. Like, screw you. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:14:51 And I appreciate that about Judea of Viselli. And, like, that's a character I appreciate it. You know what I mean? No, no, I wholeheartedly agree. Speaking of people that, you know, I guess you learned to appreciate his friend, who's Mr. Thirsty over here, he was great too, you know, acting wise, I really bought their chemistry as friend, you know, and then his idea to inspire hope within the Russian people I thought was very smart, you know, because, you know, they're in a situation where they're forced to defend themselves. And, you know, if you don't believe in the cause, you don't just automatically have that, that, that, patriotism they're just going to kill you something giving them a stronger greater reason to believe was very

Starting point is 00:15:34 intelligent on his part but also you know with him being the guy in charge of that that gives him a lot of power like indirectly not like within government but within the perception of the people you know the fact that he was able to so swiftly

Starting point is 00:15:49 control how Veseli was perceived because he was so angry about the fact that you know she chose him and not um the not his friend you know yeah chose his friend over him uh yeah just really shows that you know this guy is is more uh weight within this war than uh then probably believed on the surface yeah and the fact that he was able to find retribution or reconciliation for his friend even though there was never direct like headbutting conflict i thought was very cool and all

Starting point is 00:16:25 of the stuff with him was never it wasn't spelled out directly you know he's like i love her and like i want her to be mine over my friends but the fact that they were able to do that uh with with the subtext and you know his journey of it was very was very cool yeah and again uh that that moment at the end there where he uses himself as bait um and it was kind of a little bit of a redemption for what he had done with the propaganda that he was spreading now about him as uh like uh i forgot what he was saying but he just was when he was pissed off that Rachel had chosen Viselli over him and now we as an audience are pissed off at him naturally so I just thought that was a again sad that he uh that happened but in terms of

Starting point is 00:17:06 storytelling and character development I think it was a proper moment in terms of you know developing his character and giving him a little bit of an arc at least so oh and by the way I did notice that this film came out and before I get into the trivia 2001 Troy came out in 2004 so it seems like some of those themes that James Warner was carrying over were from this movie in Detroit. Oh, interesting. Yeah. All right, so do you have anything else before we get into the trivia?

Starting point is 00:17:36 No, I'm good. All right. So Jude Law and Ed Harris were cast largely on the expressiveness of their eyes. They were frequently called to convey emotion without saying a word, which makes sense. There's a lot of scenes where they're just waiting, waiting, doing the sniping, they have to emote and act and give us visual storytelling with their eyes. So that makes total sense.

Starting point is 00:17:57 Totally. I agree. Yeah. The film depicts Zatsef as a bit of an unschooled simpleton from some backwater part of the country. But who knew how to shoot a rifle in reality? Vasily Zatsov was an educated man and had worked for five years as an accountant in the Russian Navy stationed in the Pacific before joining the army. Hmm. Okay. Interesting. Silly. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:25 In the large battle scenes, it was deemed too dangerous with so many extras in a confined space to set off explosions by remote. Stuntmen were mixed in with the extras to set off the explosions by stepping on pressure plates. That makes sense because I was wondering when we were watching them, like, there's so many extras right now. How were they able to do these explosions with all these X? Like, this has to be timed and properly executed. like i'm glad i we got to read this because i was like how did they do them yeah uh let's see uh major conig played by ed harris can be seen wearing gloves with the index finger and thumb on his right hand removed i did notice that this was quite common for snipers in cold

Starting point is 00:19:07 conditions as it helped prevent frostbite in the hand while allowing them to make delicate changes to their weapon and ensuring a smooth trigger squeeze oh good to know fact i didn't know that Having served for years in the Russian Navy before being transferred to the army, Zatsif was proud of his naval background and wore his blue and white striped navy issued shirt under his uniform during his time in Stalingrad. Okay. All right. Let's see if we can get to some of the spoilers if I find any here.

Starting point is 00:19:39 Okay. I'll read two spoiler ones. Oh, there's only three spoiler ones, actually. Unfortunately, in real life, there was no happy reunion for, Vasili sets of and Tanya by the battles and each thought the other one died and Tanya learned years later that not only

Starting point is 00:19:56 was her lover still alive but had recently married or at least so she claimed. According to Vasili they were never lovers and in fact he was never in any relationship during the war. Okay well either way I'm glad that they added that component

Starting point is 00:20:12 to the film like I said I think it just emotionally got us invested into those characters even more so I mean I I still would have been invested in them, even if they didn't have the romance. But again, I think it added an emotional layer to the film personally. But, okay. Throughout the film, the only times Vassili has ever seen killing anyone is at the beginning in Stalingrad when he meets Danilov,

Starting point is 00:20:38 at the end when he kills Koenig with the first being the only scene showing a sharpshoeing process. Well, I didn't notice that because, yeah, we don't like, I guess we don't really see him shooting much throughout because it's just a lot of cat and mouse games versus him and Ed Harris. Yeah. Huh. Interesting. Last one.

Starting point is 00:20:59 The duel between Zatzif and Koenig is partially based on records made by Vasily. The rifle scope taken from the killed German sniper is now the Central Army Museum in Moscow, Russia. The German who was shot in the duel was SS sniper, Colonel Heights, Thorvalt. The Germans claim someone named Koenig, excuse me, had been shot in the duel and not Thorvald

Starting point is 00:21:23 because they didn't want to admit their ace was down. This was claimed by Zatzif, who also found the papers on the body identifying him as Thorvald, which makes sense, I mean, because they kept on saying, well, we're not going to admit he died kind of thing. So it makes sense that they didn't want to admit their Superman had died. So anyways, again, I really enjoyed this film, Aaron, before we end this,

Starting point is 00:21:46 Any final thoughts? Yeah, I thought this is a great movie. And I think the tell of a great movie is if you are one emotionally invested in two, if you want to share with other people. And I would definitely recommend this to some of my friends. So, yeah, this was awesome. Well, Aaron, since you recommended it to me, I will watch it. Oh, wait.

Starting point is 00:22:01 Yes, I agree with everything he said. I really enjoyed it, too. It was heartfelt. It was emotional, gripping, suspenseful. And, again, just so many different components that I appreciate in a war film and just in a film in general. So definitely recommend. it like Aaron said as well and uh let us know below what did you think of this film where would you rank it not only in war films but uh um world war two films how would you rank it and just again

Starting point is 00:22:26 what do you think of this film as a whole um that's going to do it for this video if you have made it this far we appreciate you staying this long and uh we shall see you guys on the next video take care cardi ha sims hadija khadija khadija is the jay Is that racist what we did? Is it? In probably low-key, you know, fun. If racism could be fun, that's probably as close as we could get. You see, that's the interesting thing.

Starting point is 00:23:00 So if Kadi likes Indiana Jones. With the conversation of racism, right? We go, is that racist? We're asking between us. Yes. And then we could ask Kadi Jad. I'm like, well, it kind of depends on how Kadi Jha responds to it. Yes.

Starting point is 00:23:14 Whether or not they think it's racist. or not. Yes. And I'm like, oh, isn't it interesting that things are sometimes not objectively racist, apparently. Some things are up to the eye of the beholder. Right? Yes. That's what you'll learn. Yeah. What you'll learn is that it is a spectrum and there are a certain amount of the affected community they'll be like, I don't care. It's fine. Whatever. And then a certain amount of the affected community will be like, I do care and it's not fine for reasons. And then the rest of us are out here going and we're trying to come to object the thing and I think it's like oh I guess we just got to decide whether or not it's like

Starting point is 00:23:49 hey if someone says they're like there's there are words where I'm like let me say like screw that like I just want to say this word you know I don't want to be canceled for saying a word but then there's like some words I hear someone say that I'm like I'm a little triggered that you said that word it's so I know that I can like some words you hear you're like oh we're doing that subjective right yeah I guess like sometimes they're not but you know there's like obvious terrible things but not um you know like but something like this yeah yeah yeah yeah with collie making this making this reference to a movie that is already you know so maybe we should just giving a pulpy representation of a real cult you know monkey brains and snake dinner isn't like

Starting point is 00:24:29 that much of a real thing cottage john now that we have talked this out i want you to know that we love you we love you and we want you to tell us whether or not we were racist please Enlighten them. Cartyja Sims. You have a cool ass name either way though. It looks good on paper. It sounds...

Starting point is 00:24:47 I don't know if we're saying it right. And I recently learned that my... How do you say that wrong? I'm not sure. Oh, let's find... It's the word Sims. Yes, of course. You're Little Sims.

Starting point is 00:24:58 You're my favorite UK rapper. We're done. We're done. I'm not racist. John maybe. We'll see you later. Thank you.

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The Reel Rejects - ENEMY AT THE GATES (2001) IS GRIPPING!! MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!

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