sentimental Spielberg

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 1998)

I really wanted to like this movie. The opening battle sequence was unquestionably powerful, but not nearly as ground-breaking as people seem to think. All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory plumbed similar ground years ago. Private Ryan is a good war movie, but it is nearly capsized by Spielberg's choking schmaltziness. He undercut the emotional impact of Schindler's List with his syrupy sentimentality, and does likewise here. I'm beginning to think he should go back to making children's movies, where his tendency toward cloying sweetness is more excusable.
BTW: Private Ryan is not an anti-war movie. It glorifies the sacrifices of the soldiers and romanticizes their heroism. That's the same bullshit the military has been feeding young men for centuries -- a lie that is exposed and villified in All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory and The Grand Illusion, among other true anti-war films. But sentimental Spielberg doesn't get it. He can't resist his urge to make everything romantic, idealistic, and maudlin.