04/25/09 - Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan (1998, 170 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/

This is another one of those movies that I had never seen. I have no idea why, I guess partly because it's so long and you really need to be in the right mood to see it due to its graphic nature. Anyway, this movie truly lives up to the epic war movie I was expecting.

The film, as somewhat obvious from the title, is about a group of soldiers sent out to bring Private Ryan back home. Ryan's three brothers had all been killed in World War II and for the sake of his mother he was to be sent home. We get the ensemble cast of Tom Hanks (Captain Miller), Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), and numerous others. Private Ryan is played by Matt Damon.

Each character does well in his role. Everyone is believable and each soldier has their own personality. A neat touch is that each of the main soldiers has a moment where he gives a monologue or story or some little speech to provide him with more personality and such. I liked this as it made each soldier a living human being and not just some nameless guy out there.

My one complaint with the movie is that it skirts with the horrors of war aspect. We most clearly see this in the radar scene where Sergeant Horvath almost shoots Private Rieben before Captain Miller interrupts with his own speech. We get to see here how war can make men go crazy. The movie comes back to this issue a few times (most notably with Corporal Upham played by Jeremy Davies), but never really uses it. I felt like it should either be an important element (and this seems like it should have been easy to incorporate due to the nature of the film) or just left out.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. It's unflinching in it's portrayal of World War II. It is deservedly placed in the "Epic" category by the American Film Institute. There's no question the film is great, and one that every war movie is naturally measured against.