Saving Private Ryan (Widescreen) (DTS)

A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name: Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film its most memorable performance.

The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous. The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's the film Spielberg was destined to make. --Doug Thomas

at first, i was kinda perplexe: why would the army send an unit to retrieve a single guy? i found it very illogical with what was happening. if it was the case, they would have done a lot of those kind of missions, which would have been even more illogical.

battle scenes do not have music score (which is what others should have done) and we see what we would have seen in real combat: horror of war. nothing clean or any platoon leader think he's the best like those '60s war movie.

it is also very americanized with the american flag at the beginning and at the end. it is a tribute to the american effort of the war but it also makes a small felling that lowers the effort of all the other allies: british, canadian, french resistance, chinese, australians and so on, because the flag makes you focus on USA (especially the amount of time your looking at the flag).


Saving Private Ryan   November 14, 2004
Kenneth Scheffler (Canada)
I avoided this movie for quite awhile before I finally relented and watched it. I figured that it being a Hollywood blockbuster type movie starring Tom Hanks and all, that I would be in for another flag-waving, quasi-propagandistic American take on World War Two. Well, that's not quite the case. I actually found the combat depicted to be closer to what it must have been like than you find in most war movies. The story was also deeper than I expected, although at times it seemed a little contrived. So overall, yeah, I though that it wasn't all that bad.


Glory in the Midst of Sacerfice   September 27, 2004
Maybe one of the bloodiest movies I've ever seen. Which is one of the cons for the movie because not all ages would know of serious impact of World War II.

It was a true story of Friendship and Loyality. Touching to the heart and true to the soul. Saving Private Ryan is one of the Best Movies I've ever seen in my life. It will stay with you forever. Even if you think Romance is the only way. Or if you like only comedies, this movie will amaze you in many ways.

I highly Reccommend.