Competent but conventional

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2010)

There's a fairly standard narrative in war films today: that wars are hell, but that the men who fight them deserve our respect, and it's perhaps unsurprising that Stephen Spielberg's film about the Normandy landings essentially repeats the message. The movie's structure: an initial battle, an interlude, and then a concluding fight, is also typical; and background music, slow motion scenes and a present day top-and-tail to the story are added in to make sure that the audience knows what to think. In spite of this, it's not a bad film, fully depicting the chaotic horror of war and resisting the temptation to easily close at least some of its subplots; although on other occasions, it's too clear how a given tale is going to end. A bigger problem for me, however, was the absence of a character I could really care about: Tom Hanks's hero is just too heroic for me to care about, not in a silly way but a character for us to admire rather than for us to feel empathy for. Although a lengthy movie, it didn't feel like one; but in the end, I didn't feel moved by its respectful conclusion.