Painful to see talent go in the wrong direction

Rating: 4/10 (27 February 2010)

I'm a WW2 and war movies fan.I thought I made that clear from the start.I gave "The Dirty Dozen" and "Platoon" 10 points,and I'm not a particularly indulgent reviewer.So,even though it was directed by Spielberg,which I don't like as a director,I had high hopes for it,simply because I saw the beginning Normandy landing scene in a preview and I was amazed by its force and grandeur.Also the actors were terrific,Hanks,Sizemore,Pepper...But goddamn you Spielberg,you really know how to put poop sauce in our spaghetti,don't you? American flag...American flag...old tear-eyed guy reminiscing...comforting family...American flag...a tombstone...American flag...I GET IT, Spielberg,give me a break....then,nice war scenes in Northern France...and the poop sauce really starts to hit the spaghetti...absolutely unrecognizable German Wehrmacht...now I won't rant about historical inaccuracies and plot absurdities ('though there are plenty),but most of those guys looked like zombies,not German soldiers. One thing is certain: Spielberg has no idea about war, not really.He's talented enough to draw it for us,but shallow enough to be clueless about what it is about.
So, yes, I watched the Normandy landing scene and the end battle scene 3 times...guilty pleasure I guess...and I fast-forwarded all else...including the very end,which was as melodramatic and pretentious and naive as almost the whole picture.
So,4 points for the effort,the actors,the battles...(the spaghetti). The rest was,as I mentioned, poop sauce.