Vivid, evocative

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2002)

I was told it was worth it to see this movie for the opening battle scenes alone, and that turned out to be an accurate statement. In no other war movie is there anything like the realism and aura in picturing soldiers being peppered, and sometimes hit, by machine gun fire. From pillboxes on D-Day, no less, with the tensions of an amphibious landing. The scenes of the wounded throughout this film are also something else, serving as the archetype and forerunner of "Black Hawk Down." Some points in the battle scenes, beginning and later, might be described as real and surreal at the same time, a la Kubrick.
The rest of the movie as well lived up to the good things I had heard about it. Tom Hanks does extremely well as Captain Miller, the leader of the pack in saving a private behind enemy lines because all of his brothers, fighting elsewhere in WWII, have been killed. Hanks is very natural and convincing in this role, leadership qualities and personableness, forcefulness and bravery. The human element works, and we are moved during the film's progress and conclusion. See this one.