Fraught with irony, tragedy, and Hanks

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2004)

Possible spoilers ahead...
Saving Private Ryan is a movie about World War II. In this it is not original. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of films have been made about this subject. What makes this film stand out besides the magnificent acting of Tom Hanks (possibly his best role, and that's saying a lot) is the film's plot. A dozen men risk their life and put service to their country on hold in order to retreive a single officer. Not one that is crucial to the war effort, indeed, not one that is even in enemy hands. Just one that is the last surviving son of a mother that has lost all her children in the war. The irony and contradictions of a dozen men risking their lives to locate and retreive a single officer is almost paralyzing, and surely secures Speilberg's masterpiece a place, in my opinion, among the finest movies ever made. Everything about this movie is spectacular, from the acting to the effects, to the dramatic qualities. Possibly the finest of all the World War II films ever made.