STALINGRAD 3D (15, 131 mins) *** Starring Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studilina, Petr Fedorov, Thomas Kretschmann, Sergey Bondarchuk, Dmitry Lisenkov, Andrey Smolyakov, Aleksey Barabash, Oleg Volk, Heiner Lauterbach. Director: Fedor Bondarchuk.

The highest grossing Russian film of all time replays one of the bloodiest chapters of the Second World War through the eyes of German and Soviet soldiers involved in the stand-off.

Stalingrad is the first project of its kind shot using IMAX 3D technology and the epic certainly looks spectacular in the eye-popping format.

Ash flutters down over the embattled city, bullets whizz out of the screen and several pivotal action sequences are breathlessly choreographed to take full advantage of depths in perception.

Scriptwriters Sergey Snezhkin and Ilya Tilkin choose a clumsy framing device – the efforts of a Russian crew to rescue five German teenagers from the rubble of the 2011 earthquake in Japan.

As the youngsters lay gasping for oxygen, one Russian rescue worker distracts the quintet with his remarkable family history.

“I had five fathers. They’re all dead,” he claims.

The rescuer’s anecdote harks back to September 1942.

Captain Gromov (Fedorov) leads a small troop of soldiers against the Germans, storming buildings.

The men include sniper Chvanov (Lisenkov), who doesn’t believe in mercy, and boyish radio operator Sergey (Bondarchuk). Having stormed one building, Gromov and four surviving soldiers discover a terrified 18-year-old woman called Katya (Smolnikova). Her humanity touches the military men and they become her protectors, which poses a problem for Gromov.

However, his own feelings cloud his judgement even as the German troops begin to swarm, and when Sergey spirits Katya away to a hideout and professes his love.

On the other side of the town square, German Captain Kahn (Kretschmann) is infuriated by his inability to overwhelm Gromov’s close-knit team.

Sadistic Nazi Colonel Khenze (Lauterbach) eventually goads Kahn into drastic action, lighting the fuse on an explosive final showdown between the two sides.

Stalingrad is an unapologetically patriotic spin on history that papers over the cracks of a lightweight script with stunning visuals and stirring performances.