Not as good as it's supposed to be

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 1998)

When I went to this film I expected blood, guts, severed limbs, death and destruction all round, and that is what I got. But when the first twenty minutes are over and done with there is nothing there to see, the patheticly boring insight into Tom Hanks' character is a mere side track to keep the audience interested. The film is no doubt good, but only for the way in which it portrays war, bloody. Even so Spielberg goes over the top in some instances. When the German sniper is killed in the village church tower, you didn't need to see his brains splattered all over the wall, unlike the D-Day landings when it was important to get a feel for what it was like. In general this film was over-hyped and Hanks in no way deserves an Oscar.