Still continues to amaze me

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2015)

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have proved many times that they have a great deep respect and understanding of war and the ones who fight on either side, and this along with Band of Brothers is probably the best on screen portrayal of war that I've seen personally.
The opening sequence of Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and the rest of the Army Rangers landing on Omaha Beach is one of the most jaw dropping openings ever put into film. I still remember my reaction to the opening scene when I first watched this and I was literally stunned when they show the soldiers in the boats immediately getting struck by bullets the moment the doors open up. The rest of the battle sequences are filmed with so much authentic realism and are never seem glorified in the slightest, and the final battle is one of the most intense, nail biting battle sequences I've ever seen. A lot of detail was put into the locations and the American and German Army uniforms and tanks. The sound design and the camera movements by Spielberg make you feel like you're right in the middle of the action. This is one of those times where shaky cam can be used with skill, given that it's set in the middle of a war zone.
Story wise, it's very well done. Captain Miller and his men are sent deep into German occupied Normandy to look for Private James Ryan of the 101st Airborne Division after his 3 brothers are killed in combat elsewhere in the war, and they question why they should even bother going along with it. Up until you meet James Ryan and get to know him, the movie does a good job of posing the question: "Why should we sacrifice all these lives for just one man?" I don't know the answer to that question, but it seems to me that when they meet him at the final act, they see what kind of person he is and they decide he's worth saving and literally go through hell to ensure his safety.
As for the cast/characters, each character gets their own moment to shine even if it's not that long. This is one of Tom Hanks' best performances, and the scene where he breaks down after losing Wade shows you how great of an actor this guy is. Matt Damon is the best actor they could've chosen as Private James Ryan even if he's not in it that much, Edward Burns' character gets on my nerves a bit on how big of an a-hole he is until the end when he decides to help Private Ryan in the end. Tom Sizemore is really funny, Giovanni Ribisi and Barry Pepper are very good in their parts. As is Vin Diesel surprisingly. As for Upham (Jeremy Davies), a lot of people hate his character since he didn't rescue Mellish from being stabbed in the chest by a German soldier, and while I do agree that he should've helped at the same time I can't really blame him for being scared the way he was. I've been in the National Guard for the last two years, though I've never been in combat but I can tell you that not everybody is going to look and act like the Terminator when they're put into a life threatening situation. Some people just can't deal with that. Plus I found it pretty satisfying when he shoots the same German soldier in the end not only for Mellish but also in response to shooting Captain Miller.
And another thing I've appreciated is how the movie doesn't portray the Germans as monsters. The story is told from an American perspective and don't really focus on the German side on the war and even though there were some who truly believed in Nazism, most of the Germans were just human beings like you and I. They were just doing what they were told, fighting for their country, family and fellow comrades.
Even though a lot of directors have done this with their movies, Spielberg has this cool way of pulling all these familiar faces out of thin air into his movies even if it's for a brief amount of time: Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad is in here (as a fan of the show I get all giddy whenever he's on screen), Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dale Dye, Leland Orser, the late Dennis Farina and fans of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" will pleased to see Nathan Fillion in this movie even if it's only for about 3 minutes.
In the end, this is one of my all time favorite movies and probably my favorite war film by far. It has a well executed story, well realized characters, intense battle scenes, a great musical score by the one and only John Williams, respect for the historical setting and finally the part where Captain Miller says to Private Ryan, "Earn this" chokes me up every time I watch it. Spielberg has done great work before and after he made this movie but he really outdoes himself with this one.