Reality check.

Rating: Null/10 (2 December 1999)

For a war film which purports to adhere to great levels of realism, here are a few thoughts: Having "been there" I can attest to the general realism of the film...ie: the panic and confusion on the assault beach, and the "pop-popping" of the cooling German 20mm machine gun. But there are two big exceptions: GI's are always ravenous and always exhausted. The characters in this film weren't real...they never ate and they never slept. Just imagine how much energy was expended with the "real GI". First; they probably got little or no sleep the night before the assault and then expended high amounts of nervous energy and adrenalin in the landing craft on the way to the beach. Second, the extraordinary life and death situation ON the beach would have depleted massive reserves of strength, and also raised adrenalin levels to the critical point. Lastly, when the beach was secured and the battle over, these men would have been near to or considerably past a state of exhaustion. Further into the film, we see the squad traveling considerable miles on foot, and like the Energizer Bunny, they just kept going, and going and going.... Lastly: Hanks was the wrong actor for the part.