What a great epic war movie this is!

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2000)

I'm not saying that Shakespeare in Love wasn't a good movie, just that epic films such as Ryan are almost always due the Academy Award for Best Picture. The names Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks already have the term `Academy Award winner' in front of them, and when you get both of those big names together, you get the best picture made in 1998.
Tom Hanks plays Capt. John Miller, a high school English teacher sent off to fight in the war. The movie opens with a very dramatic 15 minute `massacre' on the beach. Miller, along with his company of troops, takes out a group of German soldiers manning a huge gun spraying bullets on the rest of the allies.
After the battle, Miller learns of his new orders of seeking out a soldier by the name of Ryan. It seems this Private James Francis Ryan is the last of 4 sons sent to fight in the war. The other 3 sons have been killed and the U.S. Army deemed it necessary to extract the last of the Ryan brothers before he is ultimately killed as well. There is a very poignant scene where Ryan's mother receives a message delivered by some Army diplomats telling her that 3 of her sons have died. This is a very well put together story, all the way down to how difficult it would actually be to find a paratrooper in WWII.
Tom Sizemore (Sgt. Michael Horvath), Vin Diesel (Pvt. Adrian Caparzo), Giovanni Ribisi (Medic Irwin Wade), and Matt Damon (Pvt. James Ryan) round out this star-studded cast. By far the best performance is by, of course, Tom Hanks. His ability to act in any surrounding; be it on top of the Empire State Building (Sleepless in Seattle), in cyber-space (You've Got Mail), or in a department store jumping on a large foot piano (Big) Tom Hanks is definitely one of today's greatest actors.
Saving Private Ryan takes us on a trip across the battlefields to find Pvt. Ryan and get him home to the states. The film has some very dramatic sub-stories and a few slightly funny scenes. Steven Spielberg very carefully created a movie that will have you shocked from the seriousness of the opening scene, to laughing at some of the lines, to crying from some of the very sad moments of this film.
The vivid cinematography by Janusz Kaminski made this epic film what it is. The camera angles used created the feeling of actually being there next to Vin Diesel as he is taking out the enemy sniper.
Due to the heroics shown in the opening sequence, we develop a likening with the main characters especially Capt. John Miller, and throughout the film, we are told more and more about their backgrounds. Another very cleaver addition to this film if that the Captains men have this continuing bet going about Capt. Millers personal background; and by the middle of the movie we are told what it is he did before being sent to fight in this war.

When the Academy Awards handed out the award for Best Director to Steven Spielberg, I was happy, and just waiting for them to announce Ryan the Best Picture also. However, when they called out Shakespeare in Love as the Best Picture winner, I was stunned! To reiterate, I'm not saying that it's a bad movie, just that if Spielberg was deemed the best director, how come his film wasn't considered the best of the year? It's no surprise that I'm not a fan of giving the Best Director award, and Best Picture award to two different pictures as they have done in many years including 27-28, '56, '81, and most recently '89. It just doesn't sound right to me.

With all that said, there are a few mistakes in the film as every movie does; however Saving Private Ryan is definitely one of the greatest epic films joining the ranks of Braveheart, and Schindlers List. This movie must not be missed by anyone who calls themselves human.