Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Great WWII war action in France, but too much of the drama is weak

RELEASED IN 1998 and directed by Steven Spielberg, "Saving Private Ryan" (SPR) is about the Normandy invasion and its immediate aftermath from June 6-16, 1944. The focus is on a Captain (Tom Hanks) and his men who are commissioned to find a paratrooper (Matt Damon) whose brothers have been killed in action.

No one's supposed to say anything bad about SPR. To do so is considered sacrilege, but I have to be honest about what I like and don't like about Spielberg's popular WWII war flick. The initial beach landing (shot at Curracloe Beach, Ballinesker, Ireland) is outstanding, as is the closing half-hour battle at the crumbling village of Ramelle.

In between these two great bookends are a few quality sequences, but I didn't find a lot of the drama all that engaging or convincing. The cast is notable (also including Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, et al.), but the characters never struck me as real for the most part. I've seen the film three times and each time I was too often conscious of the fact that I was watching actors portraying WWII characters in a movie. When you see a truly great picture, by contrast, you completely forget you're watching a movie, e.g. the original "Apocalypse Now" (1979).

Moreover, too many of the situations in SPR, including the dialogue, simply struck me as unreal or annoyingly treacly. Exhibit A is the moronic dog-tag sequence, which was supposed to be emotionally stirring but just made me roll my eyes. But, like I said, no one can criticize SPR and get away with it, even if the criticism is legitimate. It's like you'll be accused of being un-American or something, which is far from the case with me since I love America; I just can't stand the corrupt government & politicians, particularly the loony DemonKKKraps.

In light of my criticisms, I simply don't get why so many praise SPR as "the greatest war movie ever made." Again, the opening and ending battle sequences are great but the dubious dramatics leave quite a bit to be desired.

I've heard SPR hailed on the grounds that much of it was taken "verbatim from first-hand, eye-witness accounts of the real Normandy invasion." I'll take their word for it, but this isn't what I object to. I object to the contrived, sappy, questionable way Spielberg depicted the dramatics and the fact that I was unable to buy the characters as real. The aforementioned dog-tag sequence is just one example, others include the French father’s stupefying actions and the forced fight at the radar station and how it’s resolved (ooh, the Captain’s a high school teacher, whoopee).

Nevertheless, there IS a lot of good in SPR that makes it worth viewing. You can’t beat the battle sequences, the cast and the convincing WWII visuals throughout.

THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours, 49 minutes and was shot in Ireland, England and France. WRITER: Robert Rodat.

GRADE: C+/B-

This movie should be known for changing Historical War Dramas as we know them. It was the first to accurately depict the carnage of war, and changed the direction of this genre of movies for all time. The initial D-Day scene was fantastic. Afterwards, Tom Hanks is ordered to chose a team of his men and look for James MacGuffin Ryan from Iowa. In order to achieve this goal, Hanks takes us across the entire back drop of world war 2, all the while making us ask, is all this worth just one man?

Honestly it's a must watch and is on my "Difinitive Movie List"

I watched this movie during a project at school. Saving Private Ryan was a beautiful and, above all, realistic film. The film presented in a realistic way how the war went then. Most of the film was set in Europe in 1944. The story is that American soldiers are being sent to Europe to fight against the Germans. The American boy James Francis Ryan is sent to Europe with his brothers as a soldier. After the invasion of Normandy it appears that all his other brothers have already died and he is the only one left. That is why corporal Miller is instructed to look for him and return him home.
The main actors who play in the film are Tom Hanks who plays corporal Miller and Matt Damon who plays the soldier Ryan. You also have all the soldiers in the group of corporal Miller. I think the characters in the film are very well thought out because they contain characters that are very brave, but also characters who have a hard time in the war. With this they show that not every soldier was as heroic as everyone thought.
The film was made on a set that I thought looked very realistic. In the background you saw the buildings that were about to collapse and the shots. I also really liked the sound that came with the film. For example, when a tank arrived, you heard that it was slowly approaching.

Recensie saving private Ryan

Information about the movie
Title: Saving Private Ryan
Regisseur: Steven Spielberg
Most important actors: Tom Hanks as Captain Miller en Matt Damon as Private Ryan
Genre: War, Drama and history
Setting: Normandy, France
Plot: During WWII, Chief of Staff, General Marshall is informed that three of a woman's sons have been killed and that she's going to receive the notifications of their demise at the same time. And when he learns that a fourth son is still unaccounted for, the General decides to send a unit to find him and bring him back, despite being told that it's highly unlikely that he is still alive and the area that he was known to be at is very dangerous. So, the unit consisting of 8 men are sent to find him but as stated it's very dangerous and one by one, they are picked off. Will they find him and how many of them will still be alive?

I saw this movie at school. I think it's a good film because, the director is very good because it seemed like you were really in it because the camera moved with it. In the quiet parts, the image was also quiet and when it became chaotic, the image was also chaotic. The characters were very realistic and felt as if they were really in a war, and for the costumes it looked very real and the same for the decor it looked like you were in war in France. I liked the movie but thought it was a bit too long, so I give it a 9/10.

I don't think I can recall any Hollywood film that depicts the atrocities of the D-Day landings as effectively as this does at the start. Indeed, watching it you wonder just how any of the Allied soldiers managed to ever survive the water let alone fight their way up a beach crowded with tank traps, mines and barbed wire - all whilst under constant machine gun fire. Steven Spielberg leaves very little to our imagination and bodies drop left, right and centre with an authenticity that John Williams scores remarkably poignantly. It's during this seemingly impossible assault that we are introduced to "Miller" (a career-best from Tom Hanks) and his squad who are tasked with taking out one of the heavily defended pill boxes. Meantime, the US Chief of Staff - General George Marshall is informed that one particular lady is about to get three telegrams in one day telling her that her sons have died. There is a fourth - "James" - and the reward for "Miller" and what's left of his group is to find this man and get him home to safety. What's also illustrated quite succinctly here is that despite the most meticulous of planning, nobody really has much of a clue who had landed where, who was alive or dead, and whether or not the master plan was working or not! This makes the new task even more difficult as the men, along with the dragooned interpreter "Upham" (Jeremy Davis) set of in search of a man they don't know with feelings that can only be described as "mixed" about the legitimacy of their mission. What now ensues is a potent story of war and of how the pressures and horrors of constant fear and weariness can corrupt the the most decent of souls. We see these men - decent men - turn into things they would never have thought themselves capable of becoming and the acting really rams that home in a characterful and visceral fashion. Brutality and savagery are not limited to the Nazis and again these images are presented to us with an honesty rather from a rose-tinted good v evil viewpoint and the dialogue has a ripeness and vivacity that rings true, too. It's not devoid of some black humour as we progress through war-torn France before a denouement that combines edge-of-the-seat drama with splendid cinematography and all of the ghastliness of conflict. The men valued each other as much as anything else, their inter-reliance and their determination to get the job done - even if they didn't really know why - is a testament to the attitudes that prevailed throughout the real fighting in Europe during WWII and this dramatisation is stunning. Big screen if you can - but it's really a must watch.

Rating 70/100
Amazing start showcasing just how atrocious and disgusting war is. Followed by a non-sensical plot point to rescue one person in a war where millions died, because he's the last guy in his family. I really liked the interpersonal relationships between the cast, the movie showcasing just how mortal everyone is and they can die at any moment is where the movie is at its best. Deducting some points because as you would expect the movie very much leans into American war propaganda, look at how merciful, all powerful and correct we are as an army and how bad everyone else is. If I ignored the stupid reason for the journey, the journey is fun and entertaining, and if I ignored the social and political messages of it its even better as a movie, and then I would rate it as a 85, but unfortunately I can't ignore those and hence its a 70 for me.

The opening scene on Omaha Beach lives rent-free in my head. Not because I want it to, but because my father — whose special interest is the World Wars — wanted me to "understand the horrors and reality of war" at 12 years old. I'm truly unsure why it couldn't have waited until I was old enough to *actually* go to war, but it is what it is.

Anyway, I vividly remember a man having his arm blown off, stumbling in shock, and then picking up his own arm. I vividly remember listening to a man screaming for his mother as he laid on the beach with his intestines on the sand beside him. That was about the point where my dad paused the movie because I was sobbing so hard I couldn't see the screen anymore. Not to give me a break; he just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything.

So. The point of me explaining that is so you understand how deeply I mean it when I say that in terms of hammering home the horrors of war, this film easily gets a 10/10 for Omaha Beach. I just wish it wasn't a core memory for me, but here we are.

The rest of the film is a lot more tame, but I remember being extremely frustrated watching characters I cared about die for a character I hadn't really yet seen and cared nothing about, for what seemed to me to be a nonsensical reason. Like, congrats, you saved one dude so he would go home to his mom so she wouldn't lose all her children, meanwhile multiple mothers lost children on the way to get that guy. I'm unconvinced the math balances out.

That being said, I'm a very character-driven viewer; I can usually forgive a mediocre or even outright bad plot if the characters draw me in and make me care about them. That was true of this movie. Unfortunately. 12-year-old me would have preferred hating them all, but such was not the case. Private Jackson, the sniper, was my favourite. He was the one guy who was like "This is stupid." Immediately endeared me to him.

Overall, I consider it a good film. Unfortunately, the opening scene at Omaha Beach is its strongest point, and if you're someone who prefers logistics over emotional framing, you're likely to consider the plot needless and foolish drama/sacrifice/tragedy, because there was no need for these men to go on this mission, and therefore the consequences were senseless. But if you prefer emotional framing over logistics, this film will likely resonate with you. Neither viewpoint is better; it's just a matter of perspective.