I cannot see the appeal at all (probably due to personal bias)

Rating: 4/10 (16 July 2017)

"Saving Private Ryan" is an American movie from 1998, so this one will have its 20th anniversary next year. The director is Steven Spielberg and this one is from the years that many probably consider his very best years in filmmaking. It came out half a decade roughly after his probably career-defining Schindler's List. But while I really love the latter, this one here did not make a lasting impression on me at all. I already stated in the title of my review that this may be due to personal bias as war movies are just not exactly my preferred choice. Knowing how it is considered such a classic, however, I thought why not give it a go nonetheless. But I had more than just a few problems with it. Let me mention some. The very long introduction of Hanks' character early on could have been left out completely if you ask me and the movie could have started with the scene where we find out that Mother Ryan lost all her sons during the very same day, which is admittedly not very realistic, even during the days of World War II. And still, it was one of the better scenes nonetheless I believe, probably also because of my aforementioned bias and I was grateful for every distraction that offered more than gun shootings, soldiers' uniforms and people crawling through the mud. I am also not a fan of "Band of Brothers", another Spielberg/Hanks collaboration. Hanks was probably the biggest film star on the planet at that time after having won two Oscars recently, so yeah given Spielberg was maybe also at the peak of his popularity, this certainly could have become something tremendous. And I like Hanks. A lot actually, which makes me even more sad this one here did not turn out to my liking at all.
One reason may be the runtime. It actually comes pretty close to the 3-hour mark and I felt that it dragged a lot and that there were many lengths. And also that they kept introducing new characters all the time instead of elaborating on the old ones in a memorable manner. Honestly, I felt like I knew almost nothing about all the soldiers in here. It is somewhat interesting because they are played by famous names like Diesel, Ribisi, Damon, Giamatti or Farina at early/earlier stages of their careers, so the cast is not the problem at all. And Hanks also does a solid job with what he was given. The Oscar nomination may have been a bit too much, but well, that's bearable looking at everything the film won. Spielberg Best Direction? Nah. Then again, the technical categories are something that is tough for me to judge, so perhaps these were somewhat deserving. But the nomination for the script sure was a joke and I am not surprised at all that writer Robert Rodat never came close to writing a great screenplay again as obviously he hadn't done here either. I am not mad that the Oscars eventually went for the lighter "Shakespeare in Love" over this one and I am baffled by how many people still say SPR should have won Best Picture that year. Anyway, I am on the "La vita è bella" bandwagon 100%.
Now back to this movie here. I think I have elaborated enough on all the many reasons why I did not end up liking this film at all. The story may be its biggest weakness. The references here are actually truly simple, like the group of soldiers finding accidentally the wrong soldier James Ryan at one point. This was also a weak scene and still it was far more memorable than the at least 90 minutes of battlefield action. It gets a bit less towards the end when they find Ryan. Still a long time before the film ends. The frame with the funeral also only works if you enjoyed everything in-between. To me, honestly it felt a bit on the melodramatic side to be honest. But again, I was somewhat grateful for it because it was not just boring random war action. As a whole, I give "Saving Private Ryan" a thumbs-down and I am baffled how people, also IMDb voters, consider this one of the greatest 50 films of all time. I strongly disagree. Watch something else instead and I'd only recommend this one to the very biggest war film fans. Oh well, I guess they have seen it already anyway.