Overated

Rating: 4/10 (25 January 2002)

I remember when the hype when SPR was first released: " Gawd it`s so realistic , it shows the true face of war , it`s like being there man" I also remember that these claims were made by civilians with no experience of the military or combat ( Maybe the next time a film audience wants to experience the horrors of war, the cinema might like to stick a sniper behind the screen to pick off sundry filmgoers. That would be realistic ) To this day I haven`t heard a single D-Day survivor comment on the realism of this film.
Yes I agree that the opening 20 minutes of SPR are outstanding as is the final battle at the end but the outstanding visuals fail to disguise the very average script that is no different from a John Wayne or Errol Flynn star vehicle. There`s very little depth to the story which seems at odds with the anti war visuals.
I will defend the film slightly from the allegation of pro American bias. It`s an American film , made by Americans , with American money for a primarily American public. For a more subjective view on the Normandy landings see THE LONGEST DAY , or better still read the book. But the comment on Monty was uncalled for , Bernard Law Montgomery spent 4 years on the western front ( 1914-18 ) he was disgusted by the slaughter he saw there and made needless casualties his main concern. I bet the red army wished for a general like that on the Eastern front. Oh and Monty won the battle of El Alamein , thought I`d just mention it.
So just to sum up SPR has some graphic battle scenes overcoming a flawed script. It`s a good film but nowhere near being a masterpiece. Maybe if it`d been set during the Korean war and been a lot more cynical it`d might have been a true classic. But as it is it`s a case of a B movie script saved by a brilliant director