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Average Customer Rating:

The best war film ever

Customer Rating:

Reviews for this movie are pretty much ineffectual. Everyone's seen this movie and if you haven't you probably don't like war movies. The hype for this movie is right on. It's Visually stunning. It has The best opening scene in any movie. You won't be disappointed in this movie. After this movie, Steve Spielberg decided to do the Band of Brothers which is also very good. If you like War Movies and you haven't seen this, you must see it.

A MUST SEE movie

Customer Rating:

I hope that this is the closest that I ever come to combat in my life. Thank God for the men that put their lives on the line to keep us, and the world, free. Hats off to Spielberg for the realism of the combat. That should be enough for all of us to make a promise to ourselves to personally thank as many vets as we can for serving to keep us free. War is no walk in the park, and this movie comes closest to capturing just how close to hell it really is. This movie teaches a lot about sacrifice, courage, heroism, and emotion. Sometimes there are causes greater than our own selves which are worth sacrificing for. A great movie for this era. Too many men of that generation have passed away - this captures a little bit of what was special about that generation. A must see for all kids as soon as they are capable of handling it.

A strange film in many ways.

Customer Rating:

This is an interesting film but marred in all sorts of funny ways: yukky setimentality intrudes and damages what could have been a very great film. The opening sequence is based on a similar one in a German film called Stalingrad, and has great impact. When the film came out, this is what impressed people, along with its apparent realism. Wouldn't it have been a great film if Private Ryan himself had not been much worth saving? He is presented as an heroic figure when we first see him, holding a bazooka. But supposing he had been crying and hiding behind a tree? That would have, perhaps, have said more about the nature of war, fate and taking orders. When hundreds of dead American troops are shown lying dead in the surf, there is a musical soundtrack, an orchestra in a minor key. Why? Surely, the sight of hundreds of young men lying dead on a beach is melancholy enough. Why was it set in the present, with the body of the film as a flashback? I could not see the purpose to trying to anchor it in the present, in some way. No disrespect to anyone, but why is it that whenever we see a US flag, or hear the mention of someone like President Lincoln, an orchestra always starts to play? It has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

A flawed gem

Customer Rating:

First off, everything you may have heard about the opening Normandy sequence is true: this is quite simply the most amazing battle re-creation footage you're ever likely to see. Definitely not for the squeamish, it paints its horrifying portrait without ever allowing the viewer to glory in any kind of "excitement" (which most battle simulations end up doing on some level, even the well-meaning ones). Spielberg uses every ounce of his talent and ingenuity to show combat the way it should be shown: as pure Hell, a nightmare that it is impossible to waken from. As for the rest of the movie which follows this opening sequence. . . well, I'm not sure. The first time I saw it, I was caught up from the beginning and the rest of the film seemed to hold me equally well. But upon further viewings, the flimsiness and basic illogic of the central plot become far more noticeable. I don't know, it's a toss-up. There are still several compelling scenes here, and Tom Hanks gives the performance of his career (his "dramatic" career anyway - I'm one who still believes there's much to be said for Tom's earlier work in comedy) but there just seems to be an overall "falseness" in the structure that undercuts some of the film's power. I wish a better framing story could have been found. But by all means see this movie. Warts and all, it's the kind that only a truly great director could make - and the opening alone is worth the cost. Just don't expect a masterpiece; think of it more as a flawed gem.

Tell Me I'm A Good Man

Customer Rating:

All war movies capture a piece of the brutality that is war but only a very few bring forth the full carnage that war is. In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, director Steven Spielberg drags the viewer out of his seat and throws him into the sound and fury of modern war. Critics have noted that with the opening scene of GIs getting machine gunned by Wehrmacht troopers on Omaha Beach on D-Day, Spielberg begins a three hour howl of pain that affects the soul as much as it does the body. It is impossible to feel nothing even for the Germans who die by the hundreds. Tom Hanks is Captain Miller who has the thankless task of bringing home Private Ryan whose three other brothers have died in battle. The question of the morality to do this while others are equally deserving a ticket home is announced by Ryan (Matt Damon) himself who refuses to leave while his comrades need him. It is this subtext of ethics versus pragmatism that imbues the film with the multi-layers of interpretation that result in equally multi-viewings. There are numerous scenes in which a soldier will pause while directly involved in a life and death struggle to detach himself from the fray to consider some basic concepts that mark him as human. Jeremy Davies plays a GI interpreter who must face the morality of what it means to use his linguistic skills as simply one more element for killing the enemy. Nearly everyone in Capt. Miller's squad also wonders whether their lives are collectively worth the one whose three brothers were killed. What makes this insane struggle to quantify the unquantifiable work is the realization that the ability to judge the worth of such a sacrifice cannot be realized until much later when the now elderly Private Ryan pauses in front of the grave of Capt. Miller to pass judgment on an event that for everyone save him is only of historical interest. To know that he is one who has tried his best to live the Good Life somehow lets him sleep at night. We in the audience can share this most intimate of moments.