Admirable work

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2009)

I admire this film on many levels. The acting is absolutely superb especially the performances given by Tom Hanks, Vin Diesel, Matt Damon and all the supporting actors as well as the other leads, I don't have preferences but I only mention these off the top of my head. The direction by Spielberg is confidant and calm when it needs to be but also ferociously intense when there is a need for it. For every explosion and gun-fight there is a quiet moment between the characters which is just as worthwhile if not more and Robert Rodat's screenplay is pitch-perfect. Janusz Kaminski is one of the finest cinematographers alive and he brings the story alive in exquisite detail. The first twenty-minutes which show the famed D-Day landings is one of the most spectacular and haunting pieces of footage ever caught on film. There are many reasons I love the film but what brought the film down for me was essentially the story. There was no lack of it or too much of it and it was interesting but when Spielberg is fighting for believability in these shots I did not believe it with the story as a back-drop. The story goes that after Damon's brothers are killed around the globe on the same day the army wants to send him home to his mother and sends a group led by Hanks to find him and send him home. While something that is decent. I'm sorry but the government is not that decent and I didn't believe it for a second which constantly brought the film down.