Great direction, OK story, high on schmaltz

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 1999)

Saving Private Ryan certainly deserves some accolades. The now infamous Omaha Beach scene is probably the best-choreographed war sequence I've ever seen. It captures the horrors of war in many respects - the confusion, the bloodiness, the futility of soldiers being no more than cannon fodder. The direction is, of course, stellar - after all, we are talking about Spielberg. The choice to mute the colors palette to washed out greens and greys is an especially nice touch.
However, Spielberg refuses to lay off the schmaltz. Oftentimes, the scenes where he injects some humanity or includes the everyman "average joe" character (in this case the soldier-interpreter) to me appears forced. The opening and closing scenes also revel in this schmaltz, trying to bring the story into modern times and connecting it to today's audience. Spielberg tried something similar with "Schindler's List," with the stone-piling scene at the end. To me, both movies work well enough on their own without these extras. As good of a director as Spielberg is, he often resorts to these over-the-top techniques to jerk a tear or to invoke sadness. I wish he would show more restraint or find a less obvious way of expressing the same emotion.
Don't get me wrong - I liked the movie well enough to give it a 7 and gladly recommend it. A bit of trimming would have made "Saving Private Ryan" a much better film though.