Eight for One

Rating: Null/10 (5 December 2002)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Eight for One
The five-academy award 1998 Steven Spielberg film Saving Private Ryan stars Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), Private Richard Reiben (Edward Burns), Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), and Sergeant Michael Horvath (Tom Sizemore). The movie begins with World War II D-day invasion of Omaha Beach. As the troops approach the beach in infantry pod boats, they are swept with heavy fire as they struggle to the cover of the hills. Germans sweep the beach with their machine guns, stopping hundreds of American soldiers in their tracks. As Captain Miller leads his troops up the hill to clear a path for the second wave, his troops overcome many obstacles. After taking out the snipers and clearing the bunkers, the infantry rests. In the U.S., letters are being sent out by the hundreds to the families of the soldiers lost in previous battles. It come to the attention of a typist that one mother was about to receive notice of three out of four of her sons were killed in battle. She takes the letters to her superior, and this information immediately makes its way to Washington, D.C. A decision is made to find her last son (Private James Ryan) to relieve him of his duties and to bring him home. Captain John Miller's assignment changes from taking over Omaha Beach to finding Private Ryan and getting him home safely. Angry and confused, eight men set out on this task. The question going through the soldiers' heads is `why are we risking eight for one?' The answer to this question is not simple; orders are orders; and do not question authority.
Along the way, they meet many confrontations of troops, snipers, and bunkers. They stumble across a secret radar bunker. Captain John Miller makes a decision to take the bunker rather than sneak past and go on with the mission. By making this decision, he upsets the crew. `The crew states that this is not our objective!' Captain Miller replied, `Our objective is to win this war!' In doing so, this results in the loss of their team Medic by machine gun fire. After taking over the secret radar bunker, Captain Miller leads his troops to another battle site where they join ground troops to find the whereabouts of Private James Ryan. They find Private James Ryan at the bridge along with his troops. Ryan is told the news of his three brothers. Captain Miller orders Ryan to come back with him and his troops. Heartbroken and distraught, Ryan refuses to leave his fellow troops. Captain Miller makes the decision to defend the bridge, then to get Ryan home. Miller's troops prepare themselves for a battle in which they knew could jeopardize the original mission at hand. Fighting begins again with the arrival of German Troops at the bridge. Miller loses his men one by one as the Germans attack. A bullet strikes Miller in the chest, and he falls to ground. Staring at the sky, Miller sees the U.S. air troops bomb the Germans to win the battle. Turning his head to see Ryan standing before him, he utters his final word: `Earn this!'
The film in my opinion was fantastic. The scene when the boats landed at Omaha beach was extremely gory. The graphics of color, sound effects and the showing of everybody being shot to death was a real as it comes for me. Great movie!!!!