An atmospheric war epic much better than its reputation suggests gets caught in the streaming crosshairs

Using standard metrics, it’s hard to call 2001’s wartime epic Enemy at the Gates anything other than a disappointment, but that doesn’t quite tell the full story.

The $68 million tale set at the height of World War II took in a lukewarm $97 million at the box office, secured a mediocre Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 53 percent, and came in for the requisite criticism of its many historical inaccuracies. And yet, you could also call it one of the genre’s most underrated-ever efforts, and there’s going to be a lot of people who wholeheartedly agree.

Laughing in the face of its apathetic critical reception, Enemy at the Gates has been designated with an audience average on the aforementioned aggregation site of 82 percent, which clearly isn’t an anomaly given that over 100,000 votes have been cast. Even now more than 20 years on from its release, the bullet-riddled tale of love and loss continues to draw in crowds on-demand.

Per FlixPatrol, Paramount Plus subscribers have found themselves enraptured in the tale of Joseph Fiennes’ savvy politico turning Jude Law’s sharpshooter into a folk hero, all while Rachel Weisz’ female soldier becomes the object of both their affections, at the same time as Ed Harris’ top-tier Nazi marksman makes it his personal mission to wipe out the man giving hope to the Russian population.

It was hardly greeted with open arms at first, but calling Enemy of the Gates an underrated gem that deserved much better is a statement a whole lot of folks would deem to be completely true.