One of the best war movies ever made

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2003)

From the literally breath taking opening sequence, which immediately became a standard which newer movies would only try to touch ("Gladiator") to the brilliant photography and sound, unprecedented cinematic achievements that Spielberg became very fond of (I think he used the ENR process in "Minority Report" as well) and the Oscar worthy performances of every single leading actor. So what exactly is missing, what possible thing makes "Saving Private Ryan" one of the best and not maybe the best war movie of all time. It's the final message. I though that just ending the movie with the elderly Ryan, comforted by the thought that he was indeed a good man who lived his life the best he could was just to trivial to be inserted in the movie. And of course Spielberg had to take a long final shot of the American flag, despite the fact that the movie was almost completely fictional when it came to the plot. But despite these flaws the movie is spectacular and is one of the best movies of 1998, falling in second place to "The Thin Red Line" which should have won every Oscar it was nominated for. But then again, loosing to "Shakespeare In Love" hurts every bit as much. A visual triumph. War never looked so real and brutal. 8/10