Great tense stuff

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2000)

I love this film to bits. Spielberg, Williams and Kaminski strike again with this great WWII front line drama. All actors were excellent in their roles, and I think Hanks was stiffed at the Oscars. I especially liked the beginning of the D-Day landing scene, with Hanks and co. in the transporter. At that point you can really feel the tension building up, mainly because of the shots of the soldiers faces as they waited to hit the beach. The suspense of the situation really built up when you could hear the bullets clanging against the ramp on the front of the transporter, and it was just sheer terror when the ramp fell and the guys at the front were riddled with bullets. The point is, Spielberg makes the audience feel like they're one of the soldiers on the transporter, and I was no exception. I got the real feeling of not wanting to be one of the soldiers there. The length of the landing scene was quite long, getting you into the feel of the time scale. The blood and gore was necessary to depict how horrible this scene was. The thing is, that's what it was really like.
Granted, it does get a bit slow when they start looking for Ryan, but not to the point where you're bored enough to want out of the cinema. The bonding between the soldiers in the squad is also highlighted in the film, Corporal Upham for example, being excluded by the others at the start, and by the end is joining in with the lingo (i.e., 'foobar'). The ending tugged on the heart strings plenty, and it shows that Hanks' character was no hero, but a normal human being, hesitating to put his life on the line for another (cf. 'earn this'). The overall effect of this film is pure anti-war.
John Williams' score was excellent as usual, and the fact that there was no music in the battle scenes was a good move, so that the audience can concentrate on the action. Kaminski's shots were just genius, his freehand style instantly recognisable, giving a real feeling of terrifying action and movement at the start and end of the film. This film was stiffed at the Oscars. Mark my words.