The best war movie ever

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2002)

By far the best war movie ever.By using hand held cameras Steven Spielberg tries to capture the chaos of battle and in the process makes an realistic,bloody,and powerful movie.
The first 25 minutes in the movie are of the Americans landing on D-Day. This scene sets the tempo for the whole movie.Legs are blown off,a man is blown in half and a man tries to push his guts back into his body as he screams in pain.In its own way this scene deserves to be compared to the Odessa steps in Battleship Potemkin, the final shoot-out in The Wild Bunch,or the shower scene in Psycho.
This introduces us to the characters.Theirs Reiben the smartass New Yorker,Wade's the medic whose mother is a doctor,Jackson is a devoutly religious sniper who prays before he shoots,Mellish is a Jewish kid who knows his enemy,Upham is the bookish rookie translator,Horvath the non-com whos totally devoted to his captain,and Capt Miller...well nobody knows his story.
The young squad of men are assigned to find and rescue Pvt. James Ryan whose 3 brothers have been killed in combat and the generals dont want this to turn into another Sullivan like tragedy.The men question the logic risking the lives of 7 men to save 1.Through battle scenes in a destroyed village and one in an open field.
The squad is saved by a group of paratropers defending a bridge from the enemy.It turns out that one of them just happenes to be Pvt Ryan. But he wont leave his comrades.So the squad stays and the Germans attack.Men are blown to bits,a head is blown off and the fighting gets up close and personal.the Americans retreat and thats when reinforcements come.
This is the most realistic,bloody and best war movie ever.The hand held cameras make the chaos of battle even more in your face,And the men are acted out well,all except Miller(Tom Hanks)who acts out his character so well that you get to understand him and the reasons why he does the things he does.His queit character only wants to go home,and in the end thats what this whole movie is about, men who just want to go home.
Overal:10/10 Sound:10/10 Special Effects:10/10 Realism:10/10 Acting:9/10 Story:7/10
This is an excellent way to spend 2 hours and 50 minutes.It may be that long but it doesnt feel that long,cause its so good.Just watch it and judge for yourself.