A VISUAL MASTERPIECE!

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 1998)

Steven Spielberg films come with high expectations. You've come to expect a sense of wonderment, of magic, of taking the audience places they've never been to before in film. Unfortunately, as Spielberg has said himself, his films the past few years have not touched or grabbed us the way they used to. This is most likely due to a combination of our high expectations and Spielberg's losing touch with the general public.
That said, "Saving Private Ryan" has well exceeded my expectations and may be the finest film of his career.
This film shows you how powerful movies can be. Marrying the creative, ingenious minds of Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski with new film technology provides us with the most realistic war movie ever made.
The opening 24-minute invasion sequence relentlessly assaults your eyes & ears. The combination of jerky camera movement (by using hand-held cameras) , stuttered framing (by skipping some frames), special film (for grittiness) , slow motion, surround sound, and perfect choreography make this section of the film an instant classic and worth the price of admission. From the second the ramp drops on one of the landing crafts, the audience is a participant in this invasion. I peered around the audience for a few seconds and as the bombs and explosions reflected light off their faces I was able to see their eyes. In them, I saw fear, shock, horror and disbelief.
There are two scenes, which bookend the movie, that force you to absorb the carnage & chaos of war at a deep level. In both scenes, you are watching the bloody battle all around you through Captain John Miller's (played by Tom Hanks) eyes. The sounds of gunfire and explosions which only moments before were piercing your ears are now all but silent. These two surreal and haunting scenes provide the audience with a few seconds to step back, feel themselves breathing heavier, feel their hearts beating faster and truly see the horror & devastation of war.
Another scene that will stay with you is seeing Corporal Upham (played by Jeremy Davies), glued to a stairwell, panic ridden with fright.
Acting: Barry Pepper as Private Jackson the expert marksman and Tom Sizemore as tough Sergeant Horvath stood out among the cast.
Hollywood plot devices (e.g., family gathered at cemetery, airplane appearance, etc) and weak dialogue at times, prevent this film from being a true 4 star classic. Never the less, this is still the most realistic and powerful war film ever made and will be remembered throughout the annuls of film history.
The film is rated R due to graphic violence. The film may be disturbing for war veterans who may not want to invoke their battlefield memories.