powerhouse star-packed war movie

Rating: Null/10 (10 November 1998)

a veritable parade of major stars. extreme realism of wartime
military scenes (actual footage of large paratroop operations,
realistic military vehicles, realistic military problems and
snafu's, realistic casualties, etc.). rather long at about
three hours, it maintains consistently high quality though it
definitely lacks anything remotely like a "hollywood ending"
(this may be part of the film's message regarding war). in other
words, the movie's many concurrent subplots mostly do not
converge and end "neatly", as american moviegoers might expect
of a big-budget action movie; some may find this slightly
unsatisfying.
many people will undoubtedly connect this film with Saving
Private Ryan. the comparison is apt. "Bridge" is slightly less
graphical in its portrayal of violence, but shares many of the
same undertones. the war scenes in "Bridge" definitely have a
"documentary-like" quality, contrasted with (some of) the scenes
in "Private Ryan" which were gritty and gave the impression of
having been shot "from the trenches".
the movie might be criticized for lacking somewhat in character
development. there is not really any particular set of
characters in the movie about whom the audience really cares
deeply. in this way, it differs from "Private Ryan", which had
a core group which the audience came to know well.
i think this must be considered as one of the best war movies
ever made from a technical standpoint. the fact it is loaded
with "big" stars will undoubtedly be a source of entertainment
in itself for some, but unfortunately, few of them are given
enough screen time to really develop into in