The war film that brings the audience *into* the war.

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 1998)

My first suggestion to anyone who has not yet seen this movie is GO. Don't wait for video; don't think it can't be half as good as they say; don't use the 1,000 different procrastinator's excuses. Just GO. Saving Private Ryan is every bit as moving, amazing and harrowing as you've heard...and then some. More importantly, Saving Private Ryan gives the audience just a taste of what it must have been like to be a soldier in what is called the Last Great War, and in the process shows you, in no uncertain terms, that *no* war is great. Saving Private Ryan also made me realize just what a sacrifice the men who fought World War II made to ensure that you and I and everyone that came after lived in a safer, freer world.
Yes, the 25-minute Omaha Beach scene is terrifying, intense and graphic, but stick it out. You'll see some incredible feats, made more so by the realization that real men actually *did* these things. A small, non -spoiler example: one of the medics, with his corpsman, going down a line of wounded soldiers; bullets are flying all around, men are still being killed and maimed in horrific ways, yet here is this medic, performing triage, knowing at any second one of those bullets might find him.
Spielberg, and especially Tom Hanks, bring you *into* the war; you truly see that, to the soldier, war isn't about opposing ideologies, but about accomplishing your mission, and getting your guys, and hopefully yourself, home in one piece. That's it. Not patriotism, at least not on the front lines; not idealism; just survival and duty, and loyalty to your guys. And Hanks shows you how, in the midst of loss and destruction and almost intolerable inhumanity, a man can still do his duty; more than any other actor in the film, Hanks shows you how a man, normal and mild-mannered back home, finds the strength to do what is asked, and continue doing it, until the task is complete.
For me, Tom Hanks makes this movie. Many reviews have pointed out that Tom Hanks delivers another of the brilliant, emotionally three-dimensional performances we, as one critic put it, have come to expect of him. Tom Hanks' work in Private Ryan is so subtle, so real, yet so breathtakingly beautiful that the Academy will have taken leave of its collective senses if they *don't* give him a third Oscar. In my humble opinion, Tom Hanks is one of the greatest actors of this generation. You can keep your DeNiros, your Hoffmans, your Pacinos; give me Tom Hanks any day.
It's a powerful movie; not perfect, but very nearly so. Don't deny yourself the experience of seeing Saving Private Ryan on the big screen. It's a trip worth making.