Saving Private Ryan

Great WWII war action in France, but too much of the drama is weak

RELEASED IN 1998 and directed by Steven Spielberg, "Saving Private Ryan" (SPR) is about the Normandy invasion and its immediate aftermath from June 6-16, 1944. The focus is on a Captain (Tom Hanks) and his men who are commissioned to find a paratrooper (Matt Damon) whose brothers have been killed in action.

No one's supposed to say anything bad about SPR. To do so is considered sacrilege, but I have to be honest about what I like and don't like about Spielberg's popular WWII war flick. The initial beach landing (shot at Curracloe Beach, Ballinesker, Ireland) is outstanding, as is the closing half-hour battle at the crumbling village of Ramelle.

In between these two great bookends are a few quality sequences, but I didn't find a lot of the drama all that engaging or convincing. The cast is notable (also including Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, et al.), but the characters never struck me as real for the most part. I've seen the film three times and each time I was too often conscious of the fact that I was watching actors portraying WWII characters in a movie. When you see a truly great picture, by contrast, you completely forget you're watching a movie, e.g. the original "Apocalypse Now" (1979).

Moreover, too many of the situations in SPR, including the dialogue, simply struck me as unreal or annoyingly treacly. Exhibit A is the moronic dog-tag sequence, which was supposed to be emotionally stirring but just made me roll my eyes. But, like I said, no one can criticize SPR and get away with it, even if the criticism is legitimate. It's like you'll be accused of being un-American or something, which is far from the case with me since I love America; I just can't stand the corrupt government & politicians, particularly the loony DemonKKKraps.

In light of my criticisms, I simply don't get why so many praise SPR as "the greatest war movie ever made." Again, the opening and ending battle sequences are great but the dubious dramatics leave quite a bit to be desired.

I've heard SPR hailed on the grounds that much of it was taken "verbatim from first-hand, eye-witness accounts of the real Normandy invasion." I'll take their word for it, but this isn't what I object to. I object to the contrived, sappy, questionable way Spielberg depicted the dramatics and the fact that I was unable to buy the characters as real. The aforementioned dog-tag sequence is just one example, others include the French father’s stupefying actions and the forced fight at the radar station and how it’s resolved (ooh, the Captain’s a high school teacher, whoopee).

Nevertheless, there IS a lot of good in SPR that makes it worth viewing. You can’t beat the battle sequences, the cast and the convincing WWII visuals throughout.

THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours, 49 minutes and was shot in Ireland, England and France. WRITER: Robert Rodat.

GRADE: C+/B-

This movie should be known for changing Historical War Dramas as we know them. It was the first to accurately depict the carnage of war, and changed the direction of this genre of movies for all time. The initial D-Day scene was fantastic. Afterwards, Tom Hanks is ordered to chose a team of his men and look for James MacGuffin Ryan from Iowa. In order to achieve this goal, Hanks takes us across the entire back drop of world war 2, all the while making us ask, is all this worth just one man?

Honestly it's a must watch and is on my "Difinitive Movie List"

I watched this movie during a project at school. Saving Private Ryan was a beautiful and, above all, realistic film. The film presented in a realistic way how the war went then. Most of the film was set in Europe in 1944. The story is that American soldiers are being sent to Europe to fight against the Germans. The American boy James Francis Ryan is sent to Europe with his brothers as a soldier. After the invasion of Normandy it appears that all his other brothers have already died and he is the only one left. That is why corporal Miller is instructed to look for him and return him home.
The main actors who play in the film are Tom Hanks who plays corporal Miller and Matt Damon who plays the soldier Ryan. You also have all the soldiers in the group of corporal Miller. I think the characters in the film are very well thought out because they contain characters that are very brave, but also characters who have a hard time in the war. With this they show that not every soldier was as heroic as everyone thought.
The film was made on a set that I thought looked very realistic. In the background you saw the buildings that were about to collapse and the shots. I also really liked the sound that came with the film. For example, when a tank arrived, you heard that it was slowly approaching.