I hadn't appreciated just how grand the film Stalingrad was going to be but after seeing this trailer I can see it's epic and it looks glorious. The production grabs me for a number of reasons, not just because it looks so great in the trailer but because it's also a Russian and German production filmed in St. Petersburg.

The film tells a much more personal story set against the brutality and scale of World War II at a time when the Russian forces are retreating from their attempt to launch a counter-offensive against the invading German army.

The story of Stalingrad will see a small band of soldiers successfully crossing the Volga river while the rest of the Russian army behind them fails and heads to retreat from the oncoming German offensive. The small group of soldiers hold up in a house on the coast and discover a girl still living there having missed her chance to escape. The soldiers bond with her and pledge to protect her against the German army.

While all this is going on the battle of Stalingrad, one of the worst of World War II, is raging around them and through their personal story I'm hoping we're going to have the story of Stalingrad told. It certainly looks like it from this powerful trailer. I do wonder if it is set to tell us the full harrowing story of the six month war or if it will just be a snapshot around these soldier's stories.

It struck me as I watched the trailer below through Deadline just how powerful and glorious it looks, and thankfully how free of cheap 3D shots it is too.

There you have my concern about the film, it's in 3D. However I'm hopeful that after making this epic looking film that they are going to have made sure the 3D wasn't a cheap afterthought and that they've integrated it throughout the film-making process and concentrated on the story and cinematography, it certainly looks like it from this trailer. It seems more Avatar (Filmstalker review) than, well, any other 3D film made since.

That aside though, because it does detract from the story and the film does look beautiful and it does promise a stunning experience. It comes from director Fedor Bondarchuk who directed 9th Company, a film I have sitting ready to watch and have done for ages and one that gets a lot of praise.