Gritty & realistic war flick

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2004)

Well done combat movie from the maker of ET. I like the way the color is used in this. Not overdone and just grayish enough so that uniforms appear olive green hue instead of money or blade grass green. The opening sequences showing the GIs' taking bullets are probably as accurate as any filmmaker can get. Nevertheless these opening sequences seem to imitate and improve upon the opening sequences in Cornel Wilde's excellent "BEACH RED" from 1967. Both films exhibit harrowing and exhaustive combat openers showing beach storming American troops taking bullets in nearly every part of their bodies'. By showing blood and severed limbs and the like the audience is shocked into understanding the cruelties of war. Saving Private Ryan, or Beach Red for that matter, are not for the squeamish movie viewer. They are perhaps best enjoyed by those who've 'been there' and perhaps the most ardent war movie buffs..