Wowzers! (Not flawless, but wowzers just the same.)

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 1998)

Saving Private Ryan left me speechless. To say it was a quality film does not do it justice. It's a shame that there will be an inevitable posse of people who don't like this film. (I hate those achingly typical individuals who feel a need to buck the majority.) Admittedly, it's not a film for everyone, but no one can say that it wasn't a well-done motion picture. The actors did a stellar job of bringing what could have easily been stereotypical soldiers to life. Giovanni Ribisi was particularly riveting (in my humble opinion). Still, I have one itty-bitty bone to pick with this film. It's a shame that Spielberg had to frame his incredible WWII story with a painfully contrived modern-day scene. I dealt with the beginning, but the end was positively gooey with cheese. What happened during WWII was the story, not what happened after. Other than that, I commend Spielberg for creating such an affecting motion picture (and for having the courage to cast such brilliant, yet relatively unknown, actors).