Good cinematography doesn't make up for a bad story.

Rating: 3/10 (13 November 1999)

I must admit, the first twenty minutes, (discounting the first scene in the cemetary), were mindblowing. The handheld visuals gave a sense of realism, and was true, honest filmaking. Spielberg should have stopped there. After the Normandy scene, we are introduced to the characters that will guide the audience on its long trip to nowhere. I hesitate to call them characters, as they are cardboard cutouts designed to fool the audience into believing there was any depth to them. They didn't fool me. They are a bunch of stereotypes, thrown together in a group, and sent on a quest. Unfortunately, Robert Rodat lacked the storytelling skills to make the film anything more than a failure with astounding visuals.
It seemed as though he threw random scenes together and decided to call it a script. I've heard this film be referred to, interestingly enough, as both a pro-war film, and an anti-war film. The reason there is such confusion, is because neither Robert Rodat, nor Steven Spielberg could make up their minds. The first twenty minutes seem to say one thing, where as the last twenty say another. In between, everything is just drivel. Because of the conflict in ideas, (and for numerous other reasons), the film lacked focus. It had no sense of itself, and was not well-realized at all. It was put in all directions and no directions at once
>Saving Private Ryan, apart from being a failure, was also an insult to my intelligence. It was so sugar-coated, it made me sick. A movie like this should go down hard, and leave a bitter taste in your mouth afterwards. However, Spielberg, for some reason, felt the need to apologize for the film's graphic depictments of battle with an ending that tried to hard to explain itself. Spielberg may as well have run up in front of the screen at the end of the movie, and said, "In case you didn't understand the other two-and-a-half hours of this film, allow to me to explain what just happened..."