A movie about everything but the war...

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2001)

Often hailed as one of the greatest war movies of all time, I have to wonder if I saw the same movie as all those other folks. Don't get me wrong there is no arguing that the opening scenes of the Americans storming the beach at Normandy are graphic and thanks to modern technology all too realistic, but these scenes are pretty much where the "war" movie ends, and the melodrama begins. For a movie about WWII the film lacks giving any information about the war, why the soldiers are there or any other facts in regards to what occurred in Normandy or elsewhere during the war. What ensues is a very pathetic character study of a group of entirely uninteresting individuals. While some performances stand out there is not much to work with, the script is such a gloss Hollywood piece of work, but then anything about the war seems to be one of the best films! these days. For those who argue this is one of the best war-anti-war films ever take another look at Catch-22 or better yet Dr. Strangelove, or even Slaughterhouse-Five, great depictions of the horrors of war and the toll that battle can take on people. I give Saving Private Ryan a whole 3 stars out of 5 - mainly because of graphic elements and believable combat scenes.