Saving Private Ryan Movie Review

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

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Written by:  Richard Rodat
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring:  Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti
Rated: R

Plot:
A group of soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a para-trooper whose three brothers have died in the war.

Verdict:
This is an amazing movie. It's at the top of any war movie list as it does an amazing job of depicting the chaos and confusion. It's almost too real. Direction is great as so much emotion is conveyed with no dialog. The opening Omaha beach scene is a stand out. This contains some of the best war sequences period. Every scene has a point and bolsters the story and characters. While this clocks in at nearly three hours, it feels much shorter.
Watch it.

Review:
I had forgotten how good this movie is. It's an achievement on every level, and it proves once again that Speilberg is a master. It was nominated for eleven Oscars, winning for best director, cinematography, editing, sound mixing, and sound effects. Surprisingly, it lost best picture to Shakespeare in Love (1998).

It's got a great opening, and I'm not talking about Omaha beach. We know the first character we see is a veteran without the movie having a single line of dialog. We see and feel his emotions and it then fades right into the action at Omaha beach.

Saving Private Ryan -The Omaha beach scene.

This is a movie heralded for it's realistic depiction of troops landing on the beach. It captures the nervousness, the chaos, and terror. The sequence is horrible, violent, and deadly. Men are shot, killed, blown up, maimed, and the tide rolls onto the beach red with blood. It's a twenty three minute sequence on the beach that feels like five. It's an incredible feat of cinema, but an incredibly tragic image. These things happened. These were fathers, sons, and brothers.

The entire movie took fifty-nine days to film, with twenty five of those days devoted to the Omaha beach scene. Omaha beach cost eleven million dollars, included over 1,000 extras, and even recruited amputees to simulate soldiers with limbs blown off. Two of the landing crafts were actually used in World War II. 

Speilberg showcases an incredible bit of directing. He uses silence to great effect in the beginning at the cemetery. This silence contrasts with the war. The sound in this is spectacular. During its release, theaters were told to turn up the volume to showcase the sound effects.

Eight men set out on a mission to save one man. Why is one man worth more than any one else? They complain about it, and that gives us a chance to get to know them. Hanks does a great job as John Miller, and we learn that he's a no-nonsense Captain. Hanks balances this with such humanity. Miller is a great character. Instead of complaining, he tells his men that gripes go up the chain of command. In a great bit of dialog one his men asks what he would tell a superior officer, and Miller replies that he'd tell his superior what a great idea this mission is. The cast is massive, many actors cast before they broke out.

Each character feels distinct. I really liked Barry Pepper as the sniper. You can see the brotherhood these men share, but that doesn't extend to the translator Upham (Jeremy Davies). It's not just because he isn't in their platoon, but he's never seen combat. By his own admission, he hasn't held a weapon since basic training. He's a character you'll dislike, but he has a vital arc. War changes you, and that's best seen through Upham.

Tom Hanks and the actors playing the detail to save Ryan underwent rigorous boot camp to bolster their camaraderie before filming. Matt Damon was excluded to foster resentment among the actors towards him. All of the actors except one voted to quit boot camp as it was too strenuous. Tom Hanks was the only actor that enjoyed boot camp. His vote counted the most so they finished the training.
Speilberg wanted an unknown actor to play Ryan. Little did he know that Damon would win an Oscar for Good Will Hunting (1997) after Saving Private Ryan started filming. Ed Norton was first offered the role of Ryan, but he turned it down for American History X (1998).

This is an incredible film. It captures everything so well, and each scene has a point. You can't help but marvel at any man willing to run into machine gun fire. While this is a movie, that happens in reality. There are men willing to sacrifice themselves. When the men discover Ryan, but don't leave immediately, the men don't question why because the movie has already established that while Captain Miller's mission is to find Ryan, his objective is to help win the war.

Saving Private Ryan is absolutely incredible. It's an achievement in film making.