Private Ryan is intensely stirring, but it doesn't follow through.

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 1998)

We've heard reams of praise for Private Ryan. We're sure to see it win some major film awards in the coming months. Let's be honest, this film is well above average for a Hollywood product. Spielberg is a bona-fide talent and has proved that he can make serious, engaging films.
Still, as much as I liked Saving Private Ryan, I left the theater feeling strangely unfulfilled. The story of the D-Day invasion and dubiously honorable search for one soldier is very well told and pays homage to the finest and most brutally honest WWII films ever made. Spielberg's smartest decision in this film was in using John Williams' score rather sparingly. The sight of soldiers jumping off the gunboats to their immediate deaths is horrific, and we don't need music to remind us. The story plays itself out very naturally. Not every gruesome event happens for a reason; we're reminded that war has no immediately discernible logic. Even the recognizable stars aren't spared the horrors of war.
However, this film is bookmarked by an opening and closing sequence in the present day that, while well-intentioned, is more of a distraction than anything else. The apparent message is that not a minute of your life should be taken for granted when others make great sacrifices for you.
We study history so that we may appreciate our existence, not so we can plug into mindless entertainment. When will Hollywood realize this?