Welcome To Hell

Rating: 9/10 (27 May 2009)

I have never understood Hollywood's love affair with Tom Hanks. He's no more than ordinary both in appearance and as an actor. Perhaps that's what they like; the stamp of the common man. Well for me, he's a turn-off. Him, Costner and Cage; I can't help taking points away when any of 'em show up.
All that said; this movie opens pretty quickly into the most spellbindingly visceral battle sequence ever shown on film. It really is a tour-de-force. The withering German machine-gun fire wiping out man after man before they've even set foot ashore is terrible and shocking to behold. Truly those weapons made flesh all but obsolete in battle. I am not a Spielberg fan either. His delight in maudlin sentimentality - or 'schamltz' as it's called - knows no boundaries. Neither does his childish irony. But when it comes to large set-piece special effects, he has no master. The few minutes of beach landing are alone worth the price of the DVD. It's as close as you can get to the real thing and still leave the cinema alive. I'm told that a group of vets got to see this movie at a private showing and gave this sequence a standing ovation. You can't say fairer than that.
Afterwards, the story moves on, with Hanks and his remaining squad looking to find Private Ryan, who is the only surviving son in a family stricken by war. And here Mr Spielberg falls into his usual routine of hokey irony. There's a suddenly collapsing wall that reveals Germans on the other side. There's a German humanely allowed by Hanks to simply wander free, only to re-emerge as his assassin, there's a case of mistaken identity that's milked for every silly little nuance imaginable. And there's a lot more. Like I said; it's often childish.
There are other interesting and engaging conflicts, though they pale in comparison with that full-on intro. There are excellent set-pieces, authentic gunfire, and believable slaughter. Editing, lighting and all of the other technical issues are right up to the standard you expect from Big Stevie. Yet most of the second 2 hours fail to answer that hellishly vivid beach landing. It's a measure of how strong the one is, and how weak the other. We are left with a slow, flagging, and largely forgettable odyssey.
Highly recommended for that opening assault. That's where my 9 stars have gone. The rest is simply in at the price, with Spielberg's juvenility and Hanks's irritating voice for good measure.
I would like to see a movie about WW1 treated with the same ruthless candour. The casualties of Omaha and The Somme scarcely withstand comparison.