Saving Private Ryan

Rating:
Summary: The most absorbing war film ever made!
Review: Where can I begin? This film is terrific. The greatest war film ever created. For those who have seen it you'll know what I mean - it's ace, isn't it!
For those who havent i'll give you some plot details:
The film is set during world war 2. It begins with the D-Day battle of Omarha beach. This is a brilliant opening scene which lasts for around half an hour. The Americans are all in boats and have to make their way up a beach which is protected by a German machine gun. The allies just get slautered. I don't want to give too much away coz it's a great scene.
Anyway a special mission ensues to save Private Ryan - I can't give anything else away coz it will spoil the film.
Just trust me, I have it on video and it is amazing - it's more than amazing. Words simply cannot describe the sheer brilliance of this masterpiece...

Rating:
Summary: A Combat Masterpiece
Review: What else can be said of this movie that the previous 1,000 reviews have already said?

I won't go into plot and all, I'm sure everyone knows the storyline. I'm here as a lifelong student of World War II to say that yes, there are flaws in this movie, both historical and technical, but over all, this movie is probably the greatest film of World War II combat ever made.

Some people complain about the "Tigers" being converted Russian T-34s (very much true) but when was the last time that SOMEONE tried to make a tank LOOK like a German tank? In "Patton" (a great movie too) you had American M-48s slapped with gray paint and German crosses to represent German Armor. In SPR, there are two Marders, some Schutzenpanzerwagen halftracks, accurate gear and uniforms. Name me any movies prior to SPR where there was as much authentic gear. I doubt you'll find any...

Some quibble that no Tigers met GIs this early in the Normandy campaign. This is true too. There WERE Tigers in Normandy on June 13 (the date of the SPR's fictional Battle of Ramelle) and they were tearing up a brigade of the famed British 7th Armored Division (the Desert Rats) at Villers Bocage, but again, I think some people are missing SPR's point.

Where SPR succeeds brilliantly is that it went for what I call a "higher truth." In this case, the truth is the hell of a modern war zone. War, no matter where or when it is fought, is a hellish place utterly foreign to the human imagination where time has its own distinctive meaning and your world goes no farther than the men in your squad or platoon.

Spielberg has managed the impossible. He actually caught the seething hell of combat. I think people will watch this film for decades and many will walk away feeling that they have seen war for the first time and will feel respect for those who have endured its fires.

SPR was gypped of the best picture Oscar. It should have won instead of "Shakespeare in Love" (which it was far superior to) but since actors love movies about actors, it lost. A shame. Next to "Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan" is one of Spielberg's greatest achievments. Let's hope he does a film about Iwo Jima.

Rating:
Summary: The Ugliness of War!!
Review: The whole premise of Saving Private Ryan is about a mother losing four sons in battle and a fifth engaged in fighting an ugly war. Not only with the enemy but with his compatriots who badger him at times. A teacher at home, but only a menial soldier on the battlefield where all are equals with the exception of officers, of course.

The mother's lonely farmplace looked desolate in beautiful countryside, perhaps Indiana. She collapses at the mere sight of the official car with the star on its door.

The worst thing for me was the soldier who died calling for his mother. We may bring them into this world to be sent off God-knows-where to defend this country. As a mother of three sons, it hurts me to see our young American males transported to foreign lands to die in such an inglorious manner. If we are to defend America, why can't we do it at home and stop this indiscriminate slaughter so far from home and mother. By watching this movie, we learn how to die with grace.

John Williams' music was splendid as always. He makes it easier to accept the truth of war with his stirring arrangements.

Rating:
Summary: Saving Private Ryan and Spielberg are Astounding!
Review: Good movies make you think. Great movies change your life. Saving Private Ryan is a great film. The D-Day scene is probably one of the most realistic battle scenes in war film history. Spielberg took a risk in trying to bring D-Day back to life in this film with absolute sucess. Hanks shines as Captain Miller, Sizemore is outstanding as Horvach, and Ribisi, Burns, and Goldberg help out with their suppporting roles. This film is one of the most realistic, gruesome, and brutal war film made, and also not to mention, one of the best.

Here are some words to describe this film: Outstanding, gruesome, bloody, glorious, powerful, tremendous, harrowing, uplifting, and of course, brutally realistic and emotional.

A definite must see!

Rating:
Summary: Most Realistic WWII Film Ever
Review: Spielberg has done it again. Sound familiar. Yes, but this film, Private Ryan is one of his best he has made. The film opens with the bloody DDAY battle that left me with my mind boggled and my mouth open. The sounds and visions of the battle are so realistic you think you are there fighting alongside the soldiers. It made feel glad to be an American after the scene. To finish things off, you must see this film if you haven't already. I can't believe Tom Hanks didn't win Best Actor for his role as Captain Miller.

Rating:
Summary: Never Seen This Before!
Review: I am a movie addict. I've been to so many movies it is bizarre. I am 50 years old. I want to say I've seen at theaters and rented thousands of movies in my life. I think I am pretty accurate in that statement.

However, I witnessed in the summer of 1998 something I had never witnessed in ANY movie I have ever seen.

I had already seen Saving Private Ryan in my hometown.
My father which was on the first wave of Omaha Beach had also seen the movie and he was deeply moved. He is still alive at 86 years old. He was captain of the medical corps and actually picked the location where the American troops would be buried in France just off the beach as depicted in the movie. He had nothing to do with the memorial but he did pick the location.

After seeing the movie in my hometown I went on vacation in the summer of 1998 to Colorado. While staying with some friends in Fort Collins we went one night to see Saving Private Ryan at the local theater. This is what happened that I have NEVER seen before after watching a movie.

When the film ended.......not.....one......single.....person....got up to leave while the credits were rolling! NOT ONE!

The theater was packed! It was a LARGE theater. Only when the house lights came on did people begin to quietly get up to leave.

I have never seen this in any movie I have ever seen in my life. I have seen many people stay for credits while some leave. But never the entire packed audience stay put in their seats. Every SINGLE PERSON stayed in their seats.

I don't think I will ever see this occur again in ANY movie.

This should tell you something about Saving Private Ryan.

Rating:
Summary: Good filmmaking
Review: This movie is one thing to watch and another to see.
It looks gorgeous, stunning and so personal. The characters shine through as people in the worst situation. I believe a tribute to the grippingness of the film is my inability to watch it very often. I think that this is just one of those movies that you should watch.

Rating:
Summary: Saving Private Ryan
Review: Saving Private Ryan is the definitive film regarding Operation Overlord. For once an un dramatized view of war is offered in this film. This film is so effective, because it forces the audience to abdon their innocence just like those young men who fought in the Second World War did repectively. Tom Hanks gives a great acting performance, but he feels out of place in a war movie.The best performance of the movie is that of Matt Damon as Private Ryan. In this role, he plays a wide-eyed young man who is thrust into a fight for his life and for freedom. In this he symbolizes so many like him in the era. Anyway, this movie along with The Thin Red Line are the best contemporary films on the Second World War, and I would recommend either to anyone wanting to be sobered by the true, unromanticized nature of war.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best war movies ever....
Review: I remember hearing about this one on the radio. They were mentioning how bloody the opening scene was. I didn't think they were serious, so I went to go see it. I'll have to say that I was blown away. It didn't really give you alot of time to settle in. One minute you're seeing an old man reminiscing, next minute you're on Omaha Beach.
Anyways, the camera work during the Omaha Beach segment gave the impression of actually being there. Especially with the jittery motion and the bits of breathing that you hear in the background.
The DVD was a very good transfer although I wish I had gotten the DTS version instead. Oh well.

All in all, a good movie and excellent DVD.

Rating:
Summary: watch this with a buddy who has yet to upgrade to DVD/DTS
Review: If this doesn't convince them DVD is the state of the art, nothing will. Get it in DTS and rent the Dolby version for the one extra supplement material that is missing on the DTS version.

The movie itself isn't bad, it was the frontrunner in the Oscars until "Shakespeare in Love" came late riding on a wave of favorable reviews. Strangely, "Ryan" still won every other Best Picture trophy to be given that year. (Kind of reminds me how Michelle Pffeiffer won almost every Best Actress award for "Fabulous Baker Boys" except the Oscar.) It is one of the most realistic depictions of combat in movie history. Perhaps only the Band of Brothers series, which came much later (HDTV and now DVD) can rival this movie when it comes to realism.

The movie, IMO is about irony. Forget the special effects for a while and concentrate on Edward Burns' line as he ponders the math: "What's the use of risking the lives of eight of us for just one guy?" The mission was FUBAR to begin with, a public relations job, as Dennis Farina says. One bad decision, but so well executed by skilled professionals, no major foul-ups, so far, so good. Then Tom Hanks decides to commit his entire squad against a machinegun nest he could have easily bypassed, or taken out with his sniper (who was extremely talented). He loses his medic, of all people, a non-combatant. He frees a surrenderee (the decent thing) and pays dearly for the kind deed. He then impossibly allows himself to be talked by mission objective himself, Private Ryan, into making a desperate, predictably disastrous defense of a bridge against German armor. You know the rest: when a handful of men without big guns take on a few tanks plus 50 enemy infantry, the results could only be disastrous, even if the said men were elite Rangers and 101st Airborne.

I was so emotionally spent after watching this movie, I was inspired (if it can be called that) to imagine, many days later, a different ending for this movie. At the risk of being called a spoiler (IMO, a lot of people have seen this anyway), here it is: They extract Ryan indeed, and most of them make it back to the American lines. OK? Then, as they arrive at dusk, a nervous sentry mistakenly shoots Ryan dead. Mission failed. See if that doesn't break your heart. Don't laugh, something like this happened in Band of Brothers, which is based on true stories of 101st Airborne men. (OK the man shot didn't die.)

OK, my 15 minutes is up. Summary: great movie, great DVD. If you really must watch that extra supplement in the Dolby version, either rent that version (which I did) or buy it too. But don't leave this DTS version out of your collection.