10 Iconic Video Game Moments You Had NO Idea Were Taken From Movies

Inspired by: Enemy at the Gates (2001)

Call of Duty has always worn its war movie influences proudly, but World at War’s Stalingrad mission Vendetta doesn’t just tip the helmet - it outright lifts its entire setup from the criminally underrated Enemy at the Gates.

The mission opens with you, as Dimitri, dragging your wounded body through piles of corpses in a devastated fountain square while German soldiers casually execute survivors. It’s brutal, bleak, and nearly shot-for-shot the same harrowing opening from Jean-Jacques Annaud’s sniper epic - right down to the burning ruins, the dead-eyed silence, and the methodical horror of it all.

Then you’re handed a sniper rifle by your grizzled comrade, Reznov (voiced with glorious scenery-chewing by Gary Oldman), and the revenge kicks in. From there, the mission becomes a tense, atmospheric crawl through shattered buildings and sniper duels, complete with whispered orders and lethal patience, just like Jude Law’s arc in the film.

The homage isn’t subtle, but it doesn’t need to be. Vendetta is one of the most cinematic levels in Call of Duty history, and it owes nearly everything to Enemy at the Gates - a rare case of the game matching the intensity of the movie that inspired it.