Great Battle Sequences in Otherwise Tepid Movie

Rating: 5/10 (17 May 2005)

For once the hype surrounding a Spielberg film proves accurate: the first half-hour of the film, which shows the WWII Allied invasion of Normandy, is every bit as powerful as you've heard, a knock-you-flat piece of film-making that surpasses every other cinematic image of war's hell. Unfortunately, D-Day as such has absolutely nothing to do with the story of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN: once this brilliant sequence is over, we are left with a highly sentimental, tiresomely repetitive, and completely unoriginal film that drags on and on to an extremely obvious conclusion.
The story concerns a young man (Matt Damon) whose brothers have been killed in battle, leaving him as his parents' only surviving child. Top brass decide that Pvt. Ryan must be sent home--but they are not entirely sure where he is in war-torn Europe. Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) is accordingly snatched up from the D-Day battle and along with a handful of men is sent to find Ryan and bring him back in one piece--and at this point the film pretty much comes to a grinding halt.
Hanks once again proves why he is among Hollywood's most bankable stars: like James Stewart, he has an everyman quality sure to appeal to most viewers--but although he remains as likable as ever, the script really doesn't give Hanks much to work with, and neither he nor his co-stars are greatly memorable. Indeed, once the opening battle sequence ends the film becomes so slow and so repetitive that you could easily nip outside, cut the lawn, and come back in to find you've not missed anything at all. Final word? The opening battle scene is worth the movie, but don't think you're missing anything if you can't stay awake for the end.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer