Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly powerful.
Review: With every war movie I see I thank God, first that I'm a woman and that I've never had to face combat, second, that I've never lost an immediate family member to warfare, and, third, that no battles on the scale depicted in this film have been fought on American soil in my lifetime. There is nothing glamorous or glorious about war, and "Saving Private Ryan" drives this point home quite effectively. I'm a woman. I don't know what it would be like to march straight into the jaws of death with a piece of cold steel in my hands. I'm a young woman. I've never had to kiss my father, brother, son, or fiance for perhaps the last time and sent him off to face the horrors of ever-present fear, killing, and the constant loss of friends and comrades. Could anyone return from battle unchanged? Could any individual remain intact body, mind and soul? It's a testament to the bravery, skill and intelligence (and sometimes cowardice) of soldiers that anyone can survive war. My great-uncles and my Dad served in the armed services before I was born. I didn't know my second-cousins before they returned from Viet Nam. My brother-in-law commanded tanks during Desert Storm. I've been lucky; I haven't been called upon to make the incredible sacrifice of the life of someone I dearly love in order to ensure the freedoms I enjoy as an American. Other individuals, other families, have paid that price for me. To them I am tremendously grateful. "Saving Private Ryan" offers as close a look at real combat as one could get without picking up a gun oneself. The movie has some terrific special effects and is well-paced and tells a gripping story of courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty. The film merits its "R" rating. It is not a movie that should be seen by children at all. The battle scenes are simply too graphic and too bloody. No words can explain to a child why a man would pick up a weapon and kill another man whom he's never met. Children cannot understand war--and neither can many adults. The characters in "Saving Private Ryan" are true-to-life, completely believable, and the dialogue in keeping with the WWII era. This is a very well-made movie and every actor in it turns in a superior performance. There is not a half-hearted effort on the part of a single actor (or actress) in the cast. Watching this film, I had to think: as our technology has improved, have the results of warfare changed or improved? Gaping holes are still blown through the bodies of strong, brave young men, whether the weapons employed are muskets, cannons, rifles, or machine guns. I pray that our servicemen continue to demonstrate the bravery and loyalty that led previous generations to fight our battles with honor--and that our leaders, political and spiritual, have the wisdom and integrity to carefully choose those battles which are truly worth the sacrifice of the precious lives of those who fall on the battlefield.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You!
Review: Even before I had seen the film reviewers were raving about the opening scenes. I just thought that it was the usual hype and dismissed their hyperbole claims. How wrong I was, how wrong I was...... The opening twenty minutes of this film has finally done what so many people have tried to do in the past, be it your parents or grandparents. It has made me finally realise what these ordinary people did. What they gave up just so I could sit here now and type about it. Here we go I hear you say. Another one that's going to break into a long winded essay on how it changed their life. Well I'm not. I'm gonna keep it short. This film needed to be made. It needs to be watched by everyone who wasn't there and never had to experience those horrific things. Why? Because I now put a name to people I just regarded as soldiers. I realise now that these were people just like me and you and they didn't want to be there, but they were and they did all this for us. This film needs to be watched by ALL!
Rating:
Summary: The best war picture that I've seen
Review: I really bougth this picture because I wanted a DTS DVD. However, when I begun to watch it I was excited about sound/visual effects & the real drama. I strongly recommend this picture.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish *less than* one star was a rating option here...
Review: First - the good. I've read extensively on the topic of war, and that depiction of the landing at Normandy was probably accurate. But really and truly I ask you, is it really a surprise to anyone that war is dark and ugly and violent and horrible? Did we really need Spielburg to show us that on screen? No. Now the rest. Why is this being hailed as a masterpiece? What was masterful? The blood and the guts? The graphic violence? The entire plot - the philosophical question of several men dying to save one man is hardly original. And that question could have been asked and answered without the graphic depctions of violence. The on screen violence made my physically ill, to the point where I had to leave the theatre for a few moments to regain my composure. I bet if you surveyed some veterans of World War II, (or any war, for that matter) most would be grateful their families and loved ones did not have to see the awful sights they'd seen. Why oh why did Speilburg feel compelled to bring this awful imagery to every man woman and child? "Masterpiece" should be a name reserved for artwork that uplifts thought and forces us to become introspective and grow mentally and spiritually. Saving Private Ryan was no masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIFIC
Review: This movie shows that there is no glory in killing or being killed. Seing James Ryan on his knees before the crosses in Normandy at the beginning & the end of the movie, shows the reality of war which is often missed in over war movies that show only killings & blood & forget about the humans & unhumanity of war. The story is simple and unbelievable ; we can only enjoy it even though there is nothing to enjoy when it comes to war. All the actors are perfect. It is a must see movie.
Rating:
Summary: brake throw in movie viewing experience
Review: the powerful lading seen is a brake throw in movie viewing experience capturing so many emotions and events at the same time is a master piece to add to ones home collection. more then one viewing to experience this movie
Rating:
Summary: The True Capabilties of DVD Revealed
Review: This DVD is absolutley incredible. I have watched this movie on VHS but it didn't really have the same effect on me as in the cinemas. The picture quality was absoultley stunning but what I really found amazing was the sound quality. My two 480watt speakers managed to pump out the best quality sound I have ever heard. I am yet to hear this DVD on a 5.1 speaker system but it will be incredible. Definatley worth buying, even if you don't like war movies it will demonstrate why DVD was created.
Rating:
Summary: Good action, "RED SPIELBERG" agenda, as usual...
Review: Stalin, Lenin, and Marx would be proud.
Rating:
Summary: Through the Eyes of History
Review: To be granted such an intimate and horrific look at one of the most pivotal moments in the history of this world, the D-Day invasion of the beaches at Normandy, provides us with a stark and brutal look at one of the last campaigns of World War II. It deconstructs the myths associated with how we look at WWII, that there is no glory in killing or being killed, but instead a horrible failure of ourselves as human beings. At the same time, however, there was a need, a dire need to remove Hitler and fascist tyranny that he and the Nazis threatened to spread across Europe and possibly the world. It was a battle of ideologies and it was a conflict of good vs. evil. Saving Private Ryan is fictional, up to an after the events of June 6th, 1944, but at the same time, the fact it isn't an adaptation or the retelling of an actual event is irrelevant. From the beginning of an elderly James Ryan on his knees before the crosses and Stars and David at Normandy, we see the war as if it were real and in color. Speilberg's use of lens used by photographers at the time gives the film a decidedly gritty, almost primitive look that only enhances the assault to the senses. The violence, however accurate, takes on surreal form all its own. The explosions that removes limbs or destroys the body completely only accentuates the fact that the human body was not meant for conflict of this scale. This isn't some 1950's or 60's John Wayne war movie where the hero takes a bullet and can keep going, more likely the hero gets shot goes into shock and probably dies. The horror of war is as real as the film makers could have made it. You feel for the characters and when they die, you share the loss. The story is simple and unbelievable, but like so many things in World War II, stranger things have happened. Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) of the 2nd Rangers is asked to go deep into France in order to recover Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), the last of four brothers in the war and the last one still alive. Ryan, a part of the 101st Airborne Regiment and just one of thousands of misdrops and got lost all over France. Miller leads a small party of eight men-who would really rather not be doing this. It causes them to question their orders and Captain Miller who must maintain the order amidst the chaos of the war around. And this is what is depicted all through out the film- confusion and the fog of war; where no matter how good your plans are or how well trained your people are, once the fighting start, those plans go straight to hell. I think Saving Private Ryan might be the most important film of the 20th Century-it has no equals, even in Darryl Zanuck's 1962 D-Day epic The Longest Day. It strips away the Hollywood glory of war and the perceived notions many of us have. It is a companion piece to Spielberg's Holocaust epic, Shindler's List. A teacher friend of mine-at the high school level actually has students who haven't even heard of World War II. School teachers in the US, Canada and Britain need to show this to their students on a yearly basis so that they can at least have some idea of what happened. We need to remember this, the Holocaust, and everything associated with World War II for a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, powerful, and almost too realistic
Review: Out of 247 reviews, the odds of someone reading mine are 1/247. However, I wanted to let any potential buyers of this movie know what i think. The first 30 minutes are gun-wrenching and powerful, and if you have a weak stomach, skip the first few scenes. The plot, however unrealistic it may be, suits the 8 characters well. Saving Private Ryan, in short, is the most realistic war film ever made. For the "Thin Red Line" addicts out there, "Thin Red Line" was great, but it was just an ANTI-war film with poetic overtones. "Line" was well made, but fell short. If you are looking for a definitive documentary of WWII, buy this movie. THere are a few unrealistic or wooden points in this movie, but besides those few parts, it is a perfect, well-acted, realistic, war film.
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