This is such a great movie.

Rating: Null/10 (11 August 2007)

Starring: Tom Hanks as Captain John H. Miller Tom Sizemore as Sergeant Michael Horvath Edward Burns as Private Richard Reiben Barry Pepper as Private Daniel Jackson Adam Goldberg as Private Stanley Mellish Vin Diesel as Private Adrian Caparzo Giovanni Ribisi as T-4 Medic Irwin Wade Jeremy Davies as Corporal Timothy E. Upham Matt Damon as Private James Francis Ryan
Plot: A squadron of troops is told to search for Private James Ryan, the last of four brothers who have all been killed in Normandy. They face numerous odds on the battlefield to find Ryan and get him home.
I knew this movie was critically hailed when I first watched it, but surprisingly I had no real interest in war movies at the time. Sure, it may sound odd but war is depressing, and to watch a movie based on real people getting killed doesn't equal a good time for me. But Spielberg is an excellent filmmaker and the cast is superb, so I finally say down and gave this one a try.
Wow. What a drama this was. It goes to show everyone that war is hell. And if you don't believe that statement, watch the first half-hour, which has been commended for it's graphic, gory realism. You leave that first scene feeling pretty worn out, and then you realize that was just the beginning. That's what Spielberg was going for. He wanted you to know that war is rough for the soldiers. He went for a gritty feel that didn't glorify war like some movies, but presented it in it's destructive glory. He even lowered the colors so as to make it feel gray and bleak. That is a great director for you.
Direction is fine, but if the cast isn't ready to make you care about who gets blown up, then you probably won't. A great cast was selected here. It was mostly Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and everyone else, because they either were new, or had normally played bit parts. Vin Diesel was unknown at the time. But everyone, including Diesel(I know, I'm surprised too) brings it here. They deliver as an ensemble. You feel that they're a bunch of guys thrown together in this platoon, and they really don't like the mission they are on. It's a great job to everyone involved. You get the younger guys showing what they can do, the veterans(Burns, Sizemore) holding everything down and the main stars doing what they do best.
The special effects and score, once again need to get praised. That opening scene would not have been as effective without the gore effects. It's one thing to have guys fall over and acknowledge their dead. It's another to show it in bloody detail. This movie uses gore to it's advantage, and not just as a throw-away device. While other movies are surely guilty of this, this movie is not. Nothing much else needs to be said about John Williams' work on Spielberg films but the score is kind of low-key and haunting here, unlike other previous ones.
Saving Private Ryan introduced me into the world of war-related film. It was enough to make me have tremendous respect for the genre. It's one of my favorite films and I can't recommend it enough. That's why it gets the rating I gave it. Go see this if you haven't, and be prepared to blown away, although not in the literal sense.
Rating: ***** of *****