One of the Greatest War Films of Its or Any Other Time

Rating: Null/10 (1 December 2013)

Within the opening 30 minutes into Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg simply rewrote everything there ever was about warfare filmmaking, destroyed many Hollywood clichés in the process, completely redefined the combat genre & permanently cemented this film's place amongst the greatest examples of war cinema.
The movie opens with the devastating but successful invasion of Normandy by Allied powers during the Second World War & the main plot surfaces after that. It concerns a band of soldiers who are assigned a new mission to go behind enemy lines in order to retrieve a missing soldier whose all brothers have been killed in action.
Steven Spielberg's direction this time challenges & breaks every barrier of action filmmaking as this film is his all out assault on the film audience' psyche & takes them right into the battlefield with all the blood, bullets & limbs flying around. Add to that, the camera-work with its desaturated colour & point of view shooting gives the plot a heightened sense of realism too.
Just like any other Spielberg's movie, Saving Private Ryan is pretty much fine tuned in its technical departments as the editing, visual effects, sound & everything is top-notch although John Williams' score doesn't have much to contribute to the whole film. The performances by its ensemble cast are also very good with Hanks impressing the most with his swashbuckling performance.
Yet, in spite of all the praise & it putting up perhaps the most harrowing depiction of war on- screen, it isn't a flawless work & comes with its share of disappointments. The biggest drawback about Saving Private Ryan is that after its unforgettable opening sequence, the film is never able to reach the same height for the entirety of its runtime & even drags in the middle of its story only to rise again in the end.
Another major problem I have with it is the film's relentless emphasis on glorifying America since some real-life events depicted here completely ignore the aid US received from other allies during the D-Day landings plus the extremely biased manner in which it portrays the German soldiers is absolutely insulting. It's specifically made for American audience & doesn't have a universal appeal like many other films of its genre.
On an overall scale, Saving Private Ryan presents its esteemed director at his brutal best and with its unflinching take on the horrors of war delivers an extremely intense, powerfully moving, brutally realistic & truly unforgettable cinematic experience. It may not be the greatest war film ever made but its contribution to warfare filmmaking has been immense. And for that alone, it will forever be remembered as one of its genre's finest works.