Overrated

Rating: 6/10 (28 October 2001)

Saving Private Ryan, quite simply, is extremely overrated. Oh, the movie isn't a total wash, in fact, about 1/2 is fantastic, but there's also 1/2 total crap. The battle scene that begins the film is fantanstic, especially since it goes on and on for a full 20 minutes. Without a doubt the highlight of the movie. In addition, the men's journey to find private Ryan is usually quite engaging, and the performances, particularly those of Tom Hanks, Giovanni Ribisi, and Tom Sizemore, are excellent. However, all that good stuff is surrounded by weak sentiment and logic that rings completely false. For starters, the scenes of the old Ryan that bookend the film are Spielberg at his most cloying. There's nothing more annoying than a director pulling every trick possible to get tears out of his audience. Besides that, the film is extremely manipulative and is derailed by some ridiculous logic at the end. Despite all this, Saving Private Ryan is still a sometimes engaging film, and is worth seeing. But #26 all time? Please! The Thin Red Line, which was released with much less hype the same year is much better. In fact, after you see this movie, track down the HBO film When Trumpets Fade, an extremely underrated war film from the same time with much less phony emotion.