rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1998
Directed by Steven Spielberg; produced by Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn, Steven Spielberg; written by Robert Rodat
Starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Paul Giamatti, Ted Danson, Dennis Farina
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
This film really is one of the greatest movies ever. Never I've seen a war
movie that was so realistic as this one. From the same year as 'Saving
Private Ryan' Terence Malick brought us 'The Thin Red Line'. A terrific
movie, I admit, but it never gets the visual reality that proves the phrase
"war is hell". Steven Spielberg shows us how it really was in WW-II, or
probably any war: soldiers puking over each other, insides on the beach, men
without legs or other body parts and, simply said, very scared people. This
is how it must have been. Spielberg is the one who can show you. That proves
one of the best war movies, 'Schindler's List', showing us the other part of
this war, the Holocaust.
Spielberg starts with D-Day, with Tom Hanks as captain Miller. The next
twenty minutes you are not able to move because of what you see. In, again,
a great war movie as 'The Longest Day', the soldiers just walked very happy
out of their boats. They just walked to the beach, and some get shot. In
'Saving Private Ryan', most privates are dead before they are out of the
boats. After D-Day captain Miller with his team gets a mission: find private
Ryan (Matt Damon). With his team including sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore)
and private Reiben (Edward Burns) he starts the mission. On their way, they
get a lot of resistance and lose a couple of men.
The only weak part of the movie I think, is the script. That a whole team
must go and find private Ryan because he lost three brothers... I don't
think they would do that in this kind of war. But when you leave that out of
the picture, this movie is a masterpiece with brilliant acting, directing,
cinematography and sound. It made me
feel I was really there.