I'd rather save Tony Montana

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2000)

I remember the day I went to see First Blood in the theaters. I thought that it was a good movie with plenty of character development and a simple storyline. However, when Rambo II came out...there was such an outcry because it was being racist in the way it portrayed the arabs. It was much too violent too. There were protests in the street and news articles in the magazines devoted two-page spreads on the ravages of war. Enter "Saving Private Ryan". I finally saw the movie and was left with my mouth open. Don't get me wrong...I love war movies and I love movies that have a sense of purpose to the killings that go on during the film. However, with this movie it was different. I was left empty. Absolutely no feelings whatsoever once it was over. I really didn't care after a while seeing soldiers die or explode for that matter in the heat of battle. It was kinda boring after a while. It's funny, I get more from watching "Scarface" then from seeing this movie. This movie did not have one iota of character development. Not one tiddle. You think that with all the hoopla during the Oscars that it was a good movie...now I know why "Shakespear In Love" won Best Picture...because it was entrenched in emotion and the audience cared for the characters. In Saving Private Ryan I got to the point where I said...who cares. It was long, drawn out and boring. Speilberg should stick with dinosaurs...he gets more responses from them then the actors in this movie (shoot, the dinosaurs were digital or mechanical...there's a clue). What I can't get is that the movie won Speilberg all these world awards for bringing people to the awareness of the ravages of World War II (ah...yeah). "The Thin Red Line" did that too...I didn't see that director honored for his achievement...hmm, maybe because he was trying to make a movie that actually was good and not appealing to award councils. Oh yeah, when I said I got more out of "Scarface" it wasn't a joke...in fact, "Goodfellas" was even better than this movie...and Saving Private Ryan had way more violence then both these 2 movies combined. Anyway, I think that Speilberg should stick with E.T.s and let other directors do the war stuff. Oh yeah, when this movie was over I thought..."Gee, all I have to do is make a movie with a historical context and I be a famous director". Nah...I'd rather go back and watch Rambo movies, they are much more docile.