Brilliant but slightly flawed war film

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 1999)

There's a lot said about this film and most of it is completely justified. Steven Speilberg has made a new milestone in the portrayal of the horrors of war. The opening combat scene is probably the most graphic and moving battle scene ever with the final climactic skirmish taking second place. The film also contains some excellent character work which works so well in war films.
However there were a few things for me that stopped this film short of being the best war film. Firstly was the blatant Americaness of the film; there was little or no reference to the Canadian and British troops that took part in the invasion. Also being British I find all the stars-and-stripes patriotism very cliched and tiresome.
The biggest let-down I think was in private Ryan himself. Unlike the majority of the people in the film he seemed to be completely devoid of believable character. I found it disappointing to wait most of the film to see him and find that he had been plucked almost straight from the filmmaker's A-Z of likeable 20-year-olds.
Still, the film was excellent. Hanks and Sizemore pulled off their parts brilliantly and the film had me and all my friends genuinely moved. I think that Schinder's List is still Speilberg's best so far though.