Not even close to being the best war movie ever

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2002)

To me, the greatest war movies of all time are those that address the issues of why war is fought to begin with, the psychology of the people who fight it, and human nature in general. Saving Private Ryan simply does not address any of this. Spielberg instead packages World War 2 into a neat commercialized container for mass consumption. The movie, although perhaps more realistic in it's depiction of the violence of war than previous films, has stereotypical and flat characters, little character development, too many stupid one-liners and attempts at humor, and a cliched feel-good ending. 'Saving Private Ryan' is maybe a decent drama, but in no way is it in the upper echelon of war films which ask and attempt to answer the real questions of war. If you want to see a good war movie which does address the real philisophical issues of war and human nature, and doesn't have a Hollywood-ized happy feel-good ending, go rent 'Platoon' or 'The Thin Red Line'.