One of the best war films ever made

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2010)

This depicts the second world war as no other film had before. The first twenty five minutes really drives home the futility and brutality of war as well as the incompetence of the bomber commanders in not clearing the beach a little more.
For me the sign of a good movie is that it seems shorter than it's running time. This movie is nearly tree hours but seems nowhere near that long.
The performances are all very good with fine memorable characters and the only jarring note for me was at the end when the captain tells Ryan to Earn this. Maybe I just didn't get it, but I felt that it put an awful burden on Ryan who would have been haunted by the fact that all these soldiers had died to save him, especially when he didn't want to be saved.
Other than that it is an excellent way to spend a few hours.