Disappointingly derivative

Rating: 4/10 (28 November 2016)

I'd missed this first time around and kept meaning to see it through. After the first twenty minute roller coaster and despite the poor special effects I still had hope. The rest of the film felt like a remake of all those 60s, 70s & 80s 'find something' war movies like The Dirty Dozen! I'd written about all the 'homages' (sniper shot etc), all of which were visually and dialoguely underwhelming. I know Spielberg can be sentimental but, phew it was a veritable lasagne of cheap emotions. And I love John Williams but the pull a tear jerker strings and last post bugles all the time. I love Tom Hanks but I struggled to find him believable a lot of the time. Band of Brothers was light years better but that suffered from patchy acting. Sorry I thought it was dreadful.