Axdyne-2 Reviews

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Story of war, love, sacrifice - delicately balanced, delivers explosively

[10/10 · 18 March 2001]

Most of the reviews I've read for this movie refer to the misplaced love story that dilutes the otherwise strong plot and minimalizes the omnipresent tragedy and horror that is war.

Quite honestly, I feel that the love story is what truly solidified this film and took it from the ranks of the great war movies to the category of great cinema.

The film is technically engrossing, and dramatically enthralling. All of the performances are solid and emotionally involving.

This is definitely the finest movie I've seen this year.

The sniper battles were very well portrayed and suspenseful. The love triangle, though seemingly out of place, was quite realistic, and added a new element to an already fascinating story. Both sides of the larger battle were portrayed fairly and for the most part accurately (as opposed to, say, Saving Private Ryan). The film succeeded in all the ways a wonderful film should, in my opinion.

I simply cannot say how much I love this movie.

Antitrust (2001)

Techno thriller panders to a digital generation

[13 January 2001]

I praise Hollywood for creating a movie that does not have mass appeal. Too often movies of this type are designed to be for too wide an audience and all credibility is lost. This film avoids this, for the most part, by primarily appealing to a core target audience in the 15 to 35 age range.

The credits sequence began and I immediately cringed and thought, "Hacker 2...ugh." but it didn't turn out that way, much to my pleasure. Horrible computer idiocy was kept to a minimum, and generally only used for dramatic effect rather than the "computerz r kewl" aspect.

The dramatic performances were very good in my opinion and the film was superb in creating suspense. The soundtrack is rather excellent as well.

By my guess, huge changes were made to this film (based on the trailer) and I look forward to seeing an alternate version or cut-scenes on the DVD.

I definitely recommend this movie for anyone who likes technology and computers. For everyone else, I don't know if you would like it, honestly, but I can tell you it's not a whole movie about computers.