Stalingrad 2013

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Though the performances aren't bad at all, everyone is playing one-note stereotypes in this cat-and-mouse game as Bondarchuk marks time for an impressively staged climax with lots of pyrotechnics. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: [Bondarchuk's] hand tends to feel heavy, especially when he's celebrating young love in wartime (shades of - ugh - "Pearl Harbor"), but the actors sometimes work wonders. Read more

Jay Weissberg, Variety: [Stalingrad] is big, loud and full of explosions. It's also awash in stereotypes, and lacks any characterization more than a millimeter thick. Read more

Jesse Hassenger, AV Club: Too often does [Bondarchuk] goad his characters to brim over with righteous bloodlust-and, despite the occasional obligatory misgiving about the barbarism of war, goads the audience to lust right along with them. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: It's hardly the contemporary answer to "Battleship Potemkin," but the World War II drama "Stalingrad" does hold the distinction of being the biggest box-office success in Russian cinema history. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: The only problem is that the film, while certainly impressive in its effects and a few rock-'em sock-'em battle scenes, is sorely lacking in crucial areas, namely characterization and narrative. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Yes, the film is gorgeous - assuming you want to see rubble and soot and frostbite rendered as eye candy. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: Its astute use of a modern deep-focus, 3D idiom creates the engrossing immediacy of a large-scale disaster film. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Though plenty of road-tested war truths about sacrifice, honor, grit and intimacy get trotted out, "Stalingrad" is deep down a spectacle campaign forged in operatic violence and a siege of the senses, and on those terms it has its moments. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: To wave a flag, sing a song and celebrate it as the uncomplicated and inevitable victory of good over evil is the sort of easy message only an old propagandist - or a president for life - could really cheer. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Russian director Fedor Bondarchuk's treatment of the World War II turning point is shallow and contrived, if sometimes impressively staged. The movie wins points, however, for sheer wackiness. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: If you're going to make a movie about the bloodiest battle in human history, perhaps there's no place for subtlety. "Stalingrad" goes for big explosions and bigger theatrics, and it works. Read more

Nicolas Rapold, New York Times: A film that seeks to memorialize by blunt force. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: If the director and his screenwriters had concocted a scenario to equal their grasp of military calamity, they could have created a classic. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Stalingrad is long and operatic, but its message is simple enough: War is hell, but hell, it makes for good cinema. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: After a devastating opening, the movie gets sluggish here and there, but it remains interesting throughout, not just culturally, but as a piece of drama. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Overall, Stalingrad is a bizarre concoction, part Putin-era patriotic chest-thumping and part creaky war melodrama, all set in a superbly recreated ruined city. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Stalingrad largely succeeds in sensory terms but doesn't fare so well in dramatic ones. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Protechnically impressive, but something important is missing: tension, originality and memorable characters. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: At first, the idea seems ingenious, but inevitably, complexity is sacrificed: The Russians are either jokey-brave or sincere-brave, while a vicious German colonel, usually seen eating or yelling, is your typical pig. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: On the most basic level, Stalingrad is a simple war picture, straightforward in its brutality. But there's another movie nestled inside, a more complex, somber one. And that one needs no special 3D effects. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: If you thought Saving Private Ryan needed to be more like 300, then Stalingrad is the movie for you. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: There's just one problem: The story. Read more