Rating: 
Summary: A glimpse of what had to be done
Review: Spielberg has unequivically done it again.His passion for all things 1940 had truly paid off like none other of his prior attempts (1941,empire of the sun,Schindlers List,Last Crusade).His flawless newsreelesque opus is captivating from the opening scenes to the parting shots.The D-Day invasion sequence is like nothing ever experienced in the theater before, it has a certain gritty tangability that brings ones racing heart into your throat.You can almost smell the sea air,the diesel from the Higgins boats, the vomit from the seasick and nervous soldiers awaiting their demise.The superb sound and cinemetography puts right there on Omaha beach.Spielberg was wise in keeping author Stephen Ambrose around for technical/historical accuracy.Ambrose's books which are all based on veterans first hand experiences pays off ten fold as the authors myriad of stories lends the film an everyman type quality.That everyman quality is what fighting WWII was really all about.The average joe putting down his tools,leaving family,to go off and fight a foreign war to defeat a true evil force-it was a job that had to be done.No matter how one looks at it WWII was complete 360 degree turning point for the ENTIRE world,the likes of which will never ever happen again the way that it did.Thank you Mr. Spielberg, youve done phenomonal job. By the way, if you liked SPR avoid Thin Red Line-it blows, icant believe it got the credit it recieved. also this is to the guy from Gaithersburg Md-LIGHTEN UP- its a GD movie from Hollywood,made in 1998.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie have ever seen
Review: I saw this movie and was immediately touched. I worked in a Nursing Home of veterans from WWI through Vietnam, and the stories they told me were not that far off from this movie. Besides being brilliantly directed, and having amongst the best cinematography of all time, this movie removed a great deal of the Hollywood that plagues other war movies (if you have seen Full Metal Jacket and/or Platoon, you know what I am talking about). Tom Hanks is a good actor, so are Tom Sizemore, Ed Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, and the rest, but I don't think these actors were trying to win Oscars. Rather, they were trying their hardest to help Spielberg accurately depict one of the most horrible and monstrous times without leaving the audience feeling that war is the 'good guys always win/bonds of brotherhood amongst soldiers' event too many other movies depict it as. Steamboat Willey killing Captain Miller at the end was the biggest mistake of the movie, albeit a miniscule one compared to the greatness of the other 160 other minutes. The other mistake was casting Ted Danson as anybody other thatn Sam Malone...he doesn't work as anything else. See this movie, and prepared to be moved!
Rating:
Summary: PRAISING "PRIVATE RYAN" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Review: One of the worst choices for best-picture Oscar: "Shakespeare in Love" over "Saving Private Ryan." Spielberg was visibly stunned when his picture didn't win, and so was I. This was one of the best movies I ever saw, and I've been seeing them since 1949. It easily makes my top 20, maybe even top 10. War has never been portrayed the way it was in this movie, and Spielberg's camera and editing techniques put the viewer right into the middle of some of the worst fighting of the war. His choice of a look-alike location for Omaha Beach, the construction and set decoration of the French town (actually done on an air base in England), and the use of very authentic-looking uniforms, weapons, and vehicles made this movie stand out as the best war movie ever made, and I've seen all the good ones. Hanks' acting and the performances of the other men in his squad were outstanding. One reviewer called the movie a "visceral" experience, and that's what it was for me. Fear, excitement, triumph, tragedy, and at last some kind of satisfaction, even if not complete, marked this as a very emotional experience. This film and "Schindler's List," Spielberg's two best, are more like experiences than movies. You really feel as if you're living these events along with the characters instead of just sitting in a theatre watching a movie. It's interesting that Spielberg's two best films, as well as his third best ("Empire of the Sun") are the ones that are the most realistic and rely the least on special effects. You couldn't ask for a better movie than this one. See it if you haven't already, and you probably have.
Rating: 
Summary: don't confuse the message with the medium
Review: SPR seems to have been embraced by so many people on the basis of its message and powerful depictions of combat, rather than by any cinematic aesthetic standards. Sure, it has moments of breathtaking realism (especially the much-praised opening sequence) but let's not get confused: this is not war, this is a war movie. And, as a movie, consider its multiple and enormous flaws: A disgustingly sentimental epilogue and prologue that is so naive and gauche as to include both a letter from Lincoln, read completely straight, and the line "Tell me I've led a good life!" Please pass the sickbag, Steven... I'm as much of a proud Yank as anyone else and, of course, thankful to those Allied soldiers who prevailed over the Germans in WW2, but that doesn't mean I'm not sickened by the ridiculous ways in which the Germans are portrayed in this film. One example: the tall fellow whose life Hanks spares who, of course, happens to show up at the end and prove himself to be Nazi scum. Another classic moment: during the last battle sequence, just as the Germans are about to cross the bridge, the Allied planes miraculously turn up just in time to save the day (!) and what do the German soldiers do...but run away promptly! Are we meant to believe that, in contract to heroic old Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, the Germans fighting in WW2 were so cowardly that they'd disappear at the first sign of any real resistance??!! What a disgusting insult to any German who gave their own life in the war. In terms of character, SPR is really quite one-dimensional. Each member of Hanks' team is a convenient stereotype, including Hanks himself. There is no real complexity to any of these men and Spielberg's attempts to create 'depth' are incredibly childish. Witness, for example, Matt Damon's 'speech' about his memories of his brothers: the whole scene is unfocused, poorly written and badly acted. It's like a 10th-grader's attempt at writing a moving monologue. If you want to see how bad Damon really is, contrast his reaction upon learning that his brothers are all dead, with the first 'Ryan' that is misinformed earlier in the film. That unsung character actor has a genuinely powerful moment that is so much more real and sad than Damon's soap-opera-reminiscent lip wobble. His is a truly terrible performance and, as his life is the one that is put forward as worth saving (with Lincoln's blessing, no less!), he should have at least become a character we could care about, rather than a bland matinee idol with suspiciously shiny teeth. All I'm asking is that people really think and question this movie and not be blinded by patriotism or guilt when they judge it. There may be good intentions and superficial realism here, and a lot of beautiful camerawork, but ultimately this is a phony, untrustworthy and fully conventional piece of cinema. Hey, sure war is hell: we all know that - but do we have to have it forced down our throats in such a ham-fisted, unsubtle way. Sorry, but "Saving Private Ryan" sucks.
Rating:
Summary: Simply brilliant
Review: There are those who look at a film with the upmost scrutiny (much like someone at this site) and tear it apart if it doesn't match history with perfection. True, there are elements that Spielburg didn't replicate exactly, but the film still one of the greatest ever made. What was replicated perfectly were the important elements of heroism, sacrifice, compassion, and the enduring human spirit. You can't view this movie from the approach that everything has to be identical to history. This movie was an attempt to put into perspective the sacrifices others have made for the United States so future generations could have the right to make movies on whatever they choose to, and so others could criticize it without fear of reprisal from their government. I think that Steven Spielburg succeeded.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER SPIELBERG MASTERPIECE
Review: This guy just keeps making great movies. And Saving Private Ryan is at the top of them. This movie has it all. great directing,action,drama,great special effects,great actors,I could go on & on. This is another great performance by Tom Hanks,it should of won him an academy award.I've been waiting for this movie to come out on DVD for quite awhile,& finally it's almost here! This is one of the best war movies of all time.
Rating:
Summary: No more realistic war movie could be made
Review: My father was a WW II veteran and POW. He only spoke to us about his war experiences two or three times. He described the scene from the day he was captured in Belgium only once. It was so gruesome that I have never forgot it in the 40 years since he told it to me. It sounded like the opening scenes of this movie. Men were cut in half by 50 cal. machine gun fire; some were decapitated as they ran into the gun fire. These men all knew that they were going to die when they were ordered into the field. I am sure that, had he lived to see this movie, my father would not have enjoyed it: too many sad memories. But it was a good one for me to see: war is truly the worst of hell. Some thought this movie was overdoing things. Based on what my father told me, it was very realistic and depicted the gruesome truth about all battles as he had related them to me. He and another man were the only survivors from his company that day: both were wounded. This movie put WW II together for me: we had to fight it, the people who fought it were most definitely among the most dedicated, sacrificing, and loyal Americans ever, and war is neither romantic nor macho it is simply most awful. We owe the people who reluctantly suffered through that war, especially the ones who died, a great debt. The last words of the Captain to Pvt. Ryan say it all. Watch the movie and see if you agree.
Rating: 
Summary: good effects, but mostly fiction
Review: for those who think that THIS IS EXACTLY THE WAY IT WAS: according to "battles lost and won", infantry on omaha beach could break through the wire (despite many heroic attempts) only after point-blank bombardment of the german strongholds by the navy. i also doubt americans could walk so openly across the country as they do in the movie (sure, they look cute with all those flashes behind, but also make an excellent target). the final battle scene is total fiction. the germans (this is not warsaw'39 but normandy'44!) would never attack enemy's position in a city with the infantry hiding behind the tanks. instead, they would blast the americans with panzer guns from the distance (exactly as the assault gun gets the sniper) while the infantry, not the lone panzer, would try to outflank them. in the movie, the germans are not only tactically challenged; they look like the worst folksturm one can imagine. panzer crews do not shoot machine-guns and are reluctant to shoot main guns too. the infantry has no mg42 machine-guns (there was one in each squad!) and does not shoot their bolt rifles till the very end of the battle; nor does it use hand-grenades. they just keep running forward and get killed. in reality, these were hardcore veterans who sealed the bridgeheads in normandy longer than anyone could expect. we also see a lot of politically correct stuff: surrending germans are shot on the spot while no dead french civilians lie among the ruins. the movie has many borrowings from "7 samurai"/"the magnificient 7" movies. the snipier is a carbon copy of james coburn in "the m7"; he dies. there is a newcomer, he survives, etc. also, too many borrowings from spielberg's own movies; all those little tricks from jurrasic park, but no jeff goldblum this time, thank you. on the whole, i still wonder: is he serious or is this an attack on military beurocracy?
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: A masterpiece of steven spielberg, in which he once again demonstrates his talent for producing drama, as Tom hanks, the main star, also reafirms our amaze of his brilliant preformance. He goes into the carachter preforming not as if he were an actor, but he guides us to believe he is an actual soldier in such combat. The story throughout the film passess through action (which is a life-like excellent display) and through a drama which guides the audience to feel nostalgia and sadness for a bitterly remembered era in the history of the world. No film has ever guided so many people through such experience based on a real life incident. I certainly believe Hanks's preformance was oscar worthy, as much as the direction by Spielberg. I still shed tears as i see this brilliant film.
Rating:
Summary: The best movie...
Review: this movie really showed the horror and hardships of WWII. i'm 13 and my parents didnt want me to watch the movie, but i did. It really teaches everyone about those times, and it made me feel lucky today. Even though Saving Private Ryan was a fictional movie, you could still get a feel of the war. Its a graphic movie, but everyone should watch it and learn.
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