'Saving Private Ryan' is a beautifully told, emotional and gripping war tale

Rating: 7/10 (11 February 2013)

Considered by many as the best war movie ever made and considered by most as one of Spielberg's many unforgettable classics, 'Saving Private Ryan' in its 150 minute run time tells the story of a group of soldiers who have been sent by the American government to find and recover a lone soldier after his brothers were wiped out in war.
Being released in the year of 1998, when movies like American History X and Shakespeare in Love came out, it is an absolute "spit on the grave" insult that this movie did NOT win the Best Picture award, instead being handed to movies of lesser kind such as 'Shakespeare in Love' However, that being said, there is so much I simply love about the movie. The acting is great with Tom Hanks pulling off another blinder of a performance! The rest of the cast all do a great job. The writing is great, often being witty and clever and Spielberg's direction is almost perfect! What do I mean "almost" perfect?
This scene is everyone's favorite scene when dealing with the movie and is regarded
as a great scene but this is one scene that I do NOT hate but do NOT enjoy much either. That is the Omaha Beach scene that drags on for 20 minutes. 20 minutes of depicting what war feels like. I can understand it being 10 minutes, that would be a blast of a start but the scene really pulled me out of the movie early on but thankfully recovered after the quest had begun with such amazing scenery, brilliant cinematography and superb special effects along with some great action scenes and very emotional scenes as the movie progressed. Another thing that adds to the greatness of the movie is definitely the characters as all soldiers who were focused on in the movie were very interesting, especially Capt. Miller. Another part I enjoyed was the ending scene, though it may feel a bit cheesy and corny, I found it reasonably emotional and the scene does make you feel its worth sitting through a 170 minute movie.
I can say in conclusion that this is a movie that I would easily recommend to anyone. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a classic and that it will live forever. The reason I had to drop one point off my rating is simply the 20 minute beach scene at the start of the movie which dragged on and threw me out of the movie, but I can easily tell that everyone else will love that scene. So, go ahead...Watch the movie! Great film, a classic and perhaps the best war movie ever.