Customer Reviews

Enemy At The Gates (2001 Film)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Like the film itself, James Horner's soundtrack for "Enemy at the Gates" contains elements of several previous works. I detected segments from other Horner favorites, particularly "Braveheart" and the early "Star Trek" films. That in no way detracts from my enjoyment of this soundtrack. I've seen the film four times already, and I'm convinced the music complements the action perfectly. In fact, Horner's score consistently outshines the screenplay. The film's mood is repeatedly disrupted by banal dialogue, but the powerful and emotional soundtrack successfully maintains the suspense of the sniper duel. Horner's most original composition contains balalaika accompaniment, which conveys needed Russian "feeling" to a film whose characters are played (rather unconvincingly) by Cockney actors. I love the CD. I've played it already a hundred times without tiring of it!

Enemy at the Gates, the movie and the soundtrack, hasn't been getting very many good reviews, and I don't understand why because I thought it was a great movie and a great soundtrack. Maybe its just too far above the heads of the juvinile minds of the cretics who want a movie with lots of noise and fake stuff exploding and dumb actors. .. . Well, anwyways on with the review!Horner seems to be a cheap composer in the fact that he copies a lot of his previous works. Believe it or not, and only a true soundtrack fan like myself would notice this, but in the sountrack to Enemy at the Gates, Horner takes a lot from his 1980's Star Trek Two: The Wrath of Kahn. The light background music played a lot during the film is directly from Star Trek Two. However, the Russian choral parts in the battle scenes are totally wonderful. I thought that this was a great movie, and this is great soundtrack.

James Horner's score for Enemy At The Gates is not a bad cd. It has some moments that are dark, and others that are contemplative. His love theme is decent and his chorale pieces are very good and very original. The rest is not. There are parts of this cd that can be interchanged with Horner's scores for the recent Troy or the not so recent Mask of Zorro. When Horner sticks to sounding Russian he does a good job unfortunately he doesn't and like much of his work after Breveheart, his music is recycled. That doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, because it is not. What it does mean is that outside the movie, the listener feels like they've heard the music before and in many cases they have.

Believe it or not, I purchased this soundtrack BEFORE seeing the film. I knew it was a risk to do so because after the soundtracks to TITANIC, WILLOW and even DEEP IMPACT I began to notice how much of Horner's stuff was repetitive, how much he borrows from his past works... BUT I bought it anyway and...
Maybe I shouldn't have. Once again, I was hearing music that I felt that I had heard before.... And beyond that, the whole disk maintained an emotional level that didn't fluctuate that much, as if half of it could have been omitted from the disk and no one would have noticed. The ONLY elements that caught my attention were those sections that incorporated Russian choral voices....ask me about this disk anytime in the future and I will tell you about the choral parts...very Russian...very dark.
Now I have seen the movie...and that helped tremendously. But the question begs to be asked here: Shouldn't good soundtrack music stand a bit on its own...without help from the visual images the film provides ? I think so......but I'm afraid that this soundtrack doesn't.

Yes, what a pity this is nothing more than a recycling of 'Willow', with bits of Titanic thrown in for good measure.

I read on a web site that James Horner takes the accusations of self-rip-off to heart. I'm sure he does. Its sad when a composer of really great music cops a beating. But in this instance I'm joining in the accusation. I adore Mr. Horner's work, I have most of his soundtracks. But this time even I have to admit that he has gone beyond the pale. If he doesn't want to get harsh criticism, then don't do it! Leave the 'Willow' score alone, and don't go and have the Bavmorda theme running right through a new score. Your fans (like me) recognise it instantly, and well, its starting to get annoying.

And there are new guys coming along all the time now. David Arnold and Harry Gregson-Williams are just two brilliant composers now vying for our attention and money.

I remember when James Horner was the new guy on the scene. I was a senior in High School when I first heard a Horner score. It was 'Cocoon' and tears came to my eyes as I listened to it for the first time. What a pity that hasn't happened when listening to a Horner score for a very long time.

This cd is what turned me on to Horner's music.It's great!!The music perfectly coincides with the movie.Mr. Horner masterfully uses the soviet chorus at just the right times to outline how the soviet soldiers felt.Track 1 is my favorite.It has the right sound that is impossible not to like.This cd not only is one of the best soundtracks all year but perhaps on of the best of James Horner's ever made.The only thing that I can point out is that Track number 4 with the four note sequence sounds like the one from Willow.

"Enemy at the Gates" is a competent soundtrack by James Horner. But, haven't you heard its main theme before? Yes, it reminds a lot of John Williams original score for "Schindler's List". One more soundtrack for the list of masquerade ones. What is happening to great "original score" composers?

I really like listening to this soundtrack, which reminds me of the terrific movie. I listen to it while I read the "Enemy at the Gates," book by William Craig. So it is a fun experience. I also have it playing all the time, at home, like background music, which it technically is.

The music has a nice, military and Russian influence, so this really has a cool atmosphere about it.

The only thing that I don't like about this CD is that the music goes from VERY quiet to VERY loud. To listen at a normal volume means that some passages are so quiet that you think there is no music playing for long stretches, (usually the start of most songs). To set you stereo volume to be able to hear the quiet stuff means that you will be jumping for the volume knob, in shock, when the loud passages come in. Most of the CD is at the loud volume, so I put up with not hearing the quiet stuff. It's a bit hard to find a decent, comfortable listening volume, until you get used to expecting this BIG variation in volume.

If you liked the movie, then this CD does a good job of reminding you of the film, and the overall atmosphere and ambience of the tense fighting in Stalingrad scenes. Buy it, if you please, Comrade Commissar!

Horner does it again! It seems like every time another of his scores comes out the great debate begins anew in earnest: Is Horner a masterfull, soulfull composer prone to bring out the emotion in the listener like no other composer, even though he does re-use various parts of his scores over and over again; or is he an overrated, copycat composer, who isn't worth the discs his music is printed on. These are the two sides, and let the debates begin!

I must begin my opinion by stating that I am a BIG Horner fan, and that he is my favorite composer, and I look forward to every new score he comes out with in anticipation. I have almost 50 Horner scores in my growing soundtrack collection, and have heard over 150 scores. This said, I still feel the way I do about Horner and his music. I've said it before on my other reviews here for Horner's scores, so I won't belabor the point again. But I don't think there is another composer out there who can evoke the emotions of a person as much as Horner does. His music just bleeds emotion and heart. Yes, at times it's familier, and at times it's loud, but it is still so powerfull and moving. Whether it's happiness, sadness, a mixture of both, power, granduer, or pain, Horner's got it covered with his music. He may use parts of his music over again, but it's always the good parts. He goes with what works, and often improves on his older theme. That's Horner, and that's why I love his music.

Having said all that, I will now weigh in on "Enemy at the Gates", which I'm sad to say, is not on a whole, a great improvement over some of his more recent scores. I tend to prefer the Horner scores that are bigger on heart, not on sound, and this one is sure big on sound for the majority of the 70+ minutes. But I do have to say that even the action cues have grown on me as I have listened to them a number of times. It still doesn't get this soundtrack into my top 10 of Horner, or even into the top 20, I think. But it's hard to say because it grows on me with every listen. The main part I listen to however, is the last three tracks, and especially 10 and 12. They are so powerfull and moving, as well as being a different sound for Horner. It's the new addition that this soundtrack offers, sort of a Russian sounding theme, that just floats and moves into your very being. It is definitely worth it for Horner fans to buy it just for these two tracks, and even others should check it out.

As for the familiarity of the score, it is abundant with many other Horner works, probably the most ever gathered into one of his scores. The predominant likeness is to "Titanic", and that runs the entire score through. Is also has many parts that are similar to "The Mask of Zorro", as well as "Apollo 13". Lurking in the background and popping up at various points are parts of "Deep Impact", "Glory", "The Perfect Storm", "Braveheart", and probably a few others. I guess it sounds a little like "Willow", although I actually prefer this score over that one.

The big controversy in this score is the accusation of stealing John Williams popular "Schindler's List" theme for the main theme of this score. While the two are similar in nature, and in certain parts, they are still quite different overall. You must remember that both composers are trying to draw off a certain genere, an idea in the head of what kind of music this era and setting demands, and so naturally they will end up sounding similar in tone. This happens quite often amongest all the composers, it's just that Horner takes most of the grief for it. It is interesting to note that Horner's little known score for "In Country", and William's popular "Saving Private Ryan" are also very similar. But in that case, Horner's was first, and once again better, I might add. In fact, I like Horner's take here on the "Enemy at the Gates" theme much better than "Schindler's List". Once again, he beats Williams when it comes to his theme reaching the heart strings better. So I certainly can't complain about this similarity. I'll be listening to this a lot more than my "Schindler's List", that's for sure.

I've taken up enough of your time, but I just felt that with all the heated debate surrounding this score, that I had a few things I felt I needed to say. Okay, maybe more than just a few! Thanks for reading, and listen to this and decide for yourself.

Enemy at the Gates starts off very interesting; the first track actually seems to draw on a few different sources, stealing a 7 note sequence from Schindler's List (although he expands on it differently), Horner's trademark bells and choir use (Glory is still his best in this department, Apollo 13 fell short), a haunting 4 note sequence I believe was used repeatedly in Akira Kuroswa'a Ran (why can't I find this on CD?????), and lastly, its opening recalls Sergei Prokofiev's amazing soundtrack's opening to Sergei Einstein's (most famous for Battleship Potmekin) Alexander Nevsky (find this sound track and buy it; it is short but nothing compares to it that I have heard).

But I liked the soundtrack, and I have liked Horner's work. To those of you who have heard and enjoyed his earlier works, get this soundtrack; it's good, but not his best. If you are unfamiliar with Horner's work,. Glory might be a better idea.