I enjoyed moments of this film

Rating: 4/10 (28 August 1999)

I don't think anyone is ever going to argue how great that opening landing sequence is  just the shear chaos in which those men were consumed  I found the chaos comparable to the scene in `Platoon' where they assault the V.C. bunkerhowever, it does not (any part of the movie, in my mind) match up the finale of Platoon, in which one is so confused, your heart pounds, and it is in the end more horrifying than any of the combat sequences in Private Ryan.
What really got to me about this film, were several things thoughfirst and foremost, is the `dumb German' syndrome, which leaves me with a bias feeling. Why in the end, did Miller, Ryan, and Sarge have know problem mowing down the by passing Germans, then survive the same gauntlet, with almost twenty German's firing at them?
Another thing, is I couldn't help but notice how far people flew through the air whenever hit by a mortar, or stepped on a land mineor hit by a grenadeso on, so on. I won't pretend to be a war-vet, or someone who's witnessed this, but it seems unlikely to me. However, I'll stress my own ignorance, and say `don't take my word for it.'
All in all, I found it to be a worthy action flick  comparable, in my mind, to `The Big Red one.' It has sad moments, and moments of brutality, but in the end, just left me with impressed memories of some of the combat sequences.
As a sidenote, I think that the best ww2 films ever made are "The Thin Red Line" and "Bridge on the River Kwai" two films that don't deal heaviliy with combat (TTRL more so). Saving Private Ryan tried just a little to hard to force feed it. I recomend all of these films, but for your knowledge, those are to me, the best.