Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly moving and Powerful
Review: I just viewed this film again the other night for about the 10th time. I still cried at the end. This film is not just about war, it's about brotherhood, sacrifice, and about the eternal struggle against those who strive to destroy our way of life (more apparent from the events of the past few days).
The violence is extreme, but necessary to convey the sacrifice that the men who fought in WWII were asked to make. It's a travesty that other lighthearted fare captured the highest film award instead of this masterpiece.
Every person should see this film, as it will move you to look at your life and see if you have or will "Earn It."
Rating:
Summary: Best War Picture
Review: Deserved the Academy Award for best picture. The DVD is cool and has good extras. A must buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, but DVD has picture problems
Review: You already know how great a film this is, so I won't foul up the impression anymore. My problem is that in certain scenes, there are visual anomalies. These include background fires that have light rays going straight up and off the screen in both the beginning and end battle sequences. And in the end battle, there is a shot of the Corporal where the screen is washed out in white blocks that come from the top and bottom of the screen, along with the fire rays. There are only about 6 shots where this is noticeable, but it is distracting nonetheless. I guess the special transfer has some bugs! That knocks off one star in my book. The sound, however, is fabulous. It is the best DD 5.1 mix I have ever heard. I wish I got the DTS version; that would be really amazing (and might not of had the picture problems)! Overall, this is a great film and a perfect (if you're lucky)DVD. The extras aren't too amazing, but nice to have. If you like this movie, I suggest trying the DTS version, but this version is great, too (if it's not flawed). Have fun, and good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, Realistic WWII Portrayal; Super Directing/Acting
Review: This is a truly facinating movie that will "burn" itself a permanant place in your memory for it's realistic horror and human-war interaction.It's really 2 stories - one fictional and one true. The first half-hour or so is an authentic masterpiece of recreating the D-day invasion at Omaha beach. Speilberg's use of hand-held cameras to give you a "your are one of the grunts" perspective and spectacular special effects is simply amazing. Interesting to note that there is no music soundtrack during this period of the movie. The other story is a fictional account of a hardened group of soldiers being sent to retrieve one private (Ryan), who has lost 3 brothers in recent fighting. Many have criticized this movie, maintaining the military would never have attempted this. But these people miss the point. Assuming this did happen, I believe this movie shows correctly how the real soldiers would have handled the situation. In fact, in telling this story, Speilberg allows us to understand how and why the characters deal with the terrible scenarios they face, as well as how the soldiers bond with one another. Ironically, at the end, you understand exactly why the military would never attempt such a rescue! The acting is outstanding and very believable. There may be some sterotypes, but people with these character backgrounds did exist and fight in the war at all levels and positions. Others have criticized the opening and ending scenes at the cemetary. Remember, it was watching a WWII vet collapse in front of a fallen comrade's grave that inspired Speilberg to do this movie in the first place - so it does deserve to be depicted, even if it is over-emphasized to some degree. Overall, this is a true masterpiece, because it's a movie that leaves a permanent impression on those who have the guts to watch it. It should have won the Best Picture award. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: I want to give it 4.5 stars; very, very good
Review: This movie has three sections. It starts with a very small piece showing a veteran crumbling at the grave of a fallen comrade in Normandy, fifty-some years after D-Day. While this is a very small piece of this movie, it is incredibly powerful and moving. The second section is the storming of the beaches in Normandy on D-Day. When this movie came out, several groups advised that any veterans who are prone to flashbacks should consider not seeing this part. After seeing it, you know why. It could give flashbacks to people who were never in combat. It is incredibly realistic, incredibly gripping, and incredibly brutal. Words like "carnage", "slaughter", and "duck-shoot" could use this section as defining illustrations. The third section of the movie is the main body. Tom Hanks, who has been seen only in the middle of chaos up until now, is given the job of finding the youngest of four brothers, Private Ryan, after the three older brothers are killed in a brief span. The government in general, and General George Marshall in particular, is trying to avoid having all four of the boys die in combat, and Hanks has to find the last Ryan, who parachuted behind enemy lines in advance of the storming of the beaches, and bring him back alive. At times, Hanks shines as the intelligence, honorable, duty-bound reluctant leader. While we eventually find out how out of his element he is in this job, Hanks is too quiet, too stoic, and too stalwart at times. I think that Tom Hanks is one of our finest actors, but he seems to get lost at times in this movie, which is very unusual for him. Barry Pepper, who plays a highly religious sniper who sees himself as a weapon of God against the enemy, is marvelous, and many other supporting performances are also very good. Overall, this a very, very good war (anti-war) movie. Section one tugs at your heartstrings, section two shocks and appalls you, and section three features a good story and great, but slightly inconsistent acting.
Rating:
Summary: War IS Hell
Review: As Stanley Kubrick, Sam Peckinpah, and Oliver Stone have showed before, war IS hell--not a glamorized John-Wayne-beats-the-bad-guys cornball cliche. And in 1998, after all the glamorizing of war by actors like Arnold Schwarzenneger and the like, Steven Spielberg joined the fray with his incredible epic SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Though bookended with the aging Private James Ryan and his family visiting a war memorial in France, the film opens with a stunning recreation of the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, where thousands of troops storm Omaha Beach, led by such fine actors as Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, and Edward Burns. Before they even set foot on the beach, however, the German guns on the top of the bluff overlooking it open fire, and instantly it becomes a firestorm of ferocious proportions, with much in the way of blood, gore, and painful death. This stunning sequence, lasting some twenty-four minutes, ranks right up there with such films as THE WILD BUNCH and FULL METAL JACKET for depicting the sheer horrors of war. The bulk of Spielberg's film focuses on Hanks leading his platoon into deepest Nazi-occupied France on a mission to save a young paratrooper (Matt Damon) who has lost three brothers to combat in other theatres of World War II and has now been given his ticket home. One may not think this makes for a very good or even exciting movie in conventional action terms. As for drama and characterization, however, it is splendid. The siege of the bombed-out French town that concludes this film is nearly as good as the opening D-Day storming. Spielberg humanizes his characters as he has done in virtually every film he has made; we are made to care about these men and what they stand for. In the end, this makes the violence and death of war much more painful to contemplate than the glamor of a Schwarzenneger or a John Wayne right-wing tract. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is, incredibly, yet another masterpiece from the pre-eminent American film maker of our time.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but the Greatest?
Review: This movie's famous first half hour show war in all its brutality: words cannot describe the feeling in the theater with the big screen images larger than life, floors rumbling, sound pulsing. It will probably be remembered for these brutal minutes, yet the movie is much more than that. It is a look at war itself and the people who fight in it. From Omaha Beach, Capt. Jack Miller and his squad are sent to find a soldier who has been given a ticket home because three of his brothers have died. This plot has become legendary and has been parodied and spoofed to no end. But this movie is exceptionally complex, you bond with the men of the squad, and although a bit more development would have been nice, its still a compelling movie. The problem I have is that it has been called the best WWII film. Discounting period films that didn't directly deal with war like Schindler's List, I can think of a couple of equal or better ones right off the bat. The Dirty Dozen, A Midnight Clear, Das Boot, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. This is a great movie, but the others were superior in their own ways. Dozen provided comic insight, Midnight is my favorite WWII film and shows the evolution of boys to men, it is a touching coming of age story. Das Boot is a submarine story told from the side of the Germans, they are developed as real, substantial young men who just wanted honor and glory, and you end up hoping they accomplish their mission even knowing it could be your relatives on those boats. Kwai is the Pacific Theater, but it is so good and holds up so well, I just had to include it. Alec Guinness is a stubborn proud British officer who wants to build a bridge for the Japanese as a testimony to the superiority of Britain, but doesn't see the consequences. This movie definitely ranks among the best WWII movies, but calling one the best is like saying that orange is better than black, all of these movies are trying to say different things, and all do it well. -m-
Rating:
Summary: best war movie ever!
Review: this movie is amazing. I watched this movie on dvd and with a sound system and it felt like u were in the battle. Tom Hanks and a great cast do a wonderful job in this epic war movie.
Rating:
Summary: Spielberg at his best
Review: Most people now are reluctant to see war movies. Not because of the action, but because of the glorification of such a horrible subject. But of course, win or lose, war is a terrible thing. Saving Private Ryan, although shown mainly from the americans perspective, does not glamorize war, yet still manages to come through as one of the greatest war movies of all time. The thing that I found really good about this movie was that the characters were realistically patriotic, not suicidal. If you are very knowledgable about WWII, then you may notice slightly inexact components such as the war planes at at the end of the movie. But overall, it is an excellently directed and produced war film with good character depth and a great plot.
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!!! A MUST SEE!
Review: AMAZING... A MUST-SEE!!!! This movie is truly fantastic and incorproates everything!!!! It's one of the greatest movies I've ever seen and would reccomend it to anybody!! Tom Hanks does a superb job as does everybody else in the film. It should have won Best Picture!!!!
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