Visually and Emotionally Stunning Film but Without Heart and Soul.

Rating: Null/10 (8 March 1999)

I sat in a theatre, surrounded by strangers and by the end of this film, I felt I was pulled into the battlefields of WWII. Spielberg's main goal with this film was to create the reality of war, the horror, the fear, the gore, the devastation. He succeeded on all counts. The action sequences were nothing short of incredible, very realistic and frightening. But unfortunately, I think that Speilberg's desire to create the most visually powerful war film of all time was overpowering his ability to tell a good story.
The story was not a very good one. The story is the heart and soul of a film and it cannot be compromised for the sake of expressing the strictly visual component of that story. Not only was it completely unbelievable that the US army would send out a group of soldiers in search of one man in the middle of war but the whole movie you are just waiting for another battle to take place. It kind of reminded me a bit of the movie, "Twister." Of course, it was much better than "Twister" as a whole but it had a similar structure, good action interrupted by a bad story. All of the performances are fantastic (and that makes the story watchable, unlike "Twister") and some of the Rodat's writing is good (Like Matt Damon's "back home" speech) but the film's visual presentation of war is just so enthralling that no story could probably match it. It is the downfall of any movie which has a much more talented director than screenwriter.
That doesn't mean to say that that combination of writer/director can't work. I believe that Face/Off had a pretty unbelieveable story but John Woo's ability to intergrate the visuals of the film into the story itself and tell the crazy story so matter-a-factly makes it work. Spielberg didn't seem to take as much interest in the progression of the narrative as he did into the progression of the battle scene. And ultimately, this makes the film stagnate quite frequently.
I still believe the film to be worthy of Best Picture, Cinematography, Editing and a number of technical awards. I don't think that it deserves to win Best Director or Screenplay (but it mostly still will win). The chemistry that is essential to making a story work was not there and that holds the film back from being a complete masterpiece. If you want to watch WWII film which incorporates both good writing and good direction watch Terrence Malik's "The Thin Red Line" (it at least has a better balance of the two). Still watch "Saving Private Ryan", just don't expect to start crying for the characters and their conflict, but expect to cringe in your seats at the horrors of war which Speilberg brings to the screen with incredible authenticity and realism.