A brilliant film, despite it's shortcomings.

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 1999)

Saving Private Ryan opens amidst the flurry of panic and madness of Omaha Beach. The US troops trying to make it past the shore and up to the elevations of the enemy, who fire machine guns at the defenceless troops whilst sitting behind fortifications. It's a graphic, powerful, stirring and extremely violent 25 minutes. An unrelenting barrage of gunsmoke, blood and gore. It captures the futility of war through it's no holds barred methods.
Tom Hanks plays Captain John Miller, assigned to find a missing private, by the name of Ryan, whose three brothers had recently been killed. He takes a team with him to find Ryan, and along the way runs into a lot of trouble.
Unfortunately, the film trails off into the American patriotism rigmarole that seems rudimentary in each war film. Saving Private Ryan becomes boring in the middle of the movie, with contrived, blatant 'war is so pointless' and 'this shouldn't be happening' sort of thing.
The finale is very violent and doesn't have as much impact as the opening sequence. The film loses it's impact due to the overlong middle.
Seven out of ten.