Although unanimously praised and won several Oscars, Saving Private Ryan to me is a fairly standard war film. It isn’t bad necessarily, just never really found it to be anything special. The opening scene is great and I love the last battle scene, but everything in between is nothing but filler, trapped in a war story that is neither new nor exciting. Steven Spielberg who was fresh off of Schindlers List which just came out a few years before Saving Private Ryan, this was his second film to take place in World War II. I have not seen Schindlers List yet, but I imagine it’s better than Saving Private Ryan, even if both films do receive quite a lot of praise.

Saving Private Ryan is about Captain John H. Miller and his group of men as they travel behind enemy lines to try and rescue Private James Francis Ryan. Along the way, they lose men, run into Germens, and have small battles. By the time they find Private Ryan they are going to have to battle many Germens as they are outnumbered.

For a 170 minute movie, there really is not much plot. The plot is just finding a man and having some fights. The opening and final battle scenes really save the movie from descending into absolute mediocrity. It is still fairly mediocre, but it could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for those two scenes.  The characters are all underdeveloped and have trouble supporting the movie throughout its running length. Even the lead character John Miller feels distant from us, and we never get a clear sense of what they want, other than to return home. The one character I almost feel we know the most is Ryan, who doesn’t even show up until two thirds of the way through.

 The acting is fine for the most part, for a war film I’d say it’s standard. Tom Hanks is usually very hit or miss with me. Sometimes I think he is brilliant (Castaway, Charlie Wilsons War), and other times I feel like he is taking roles Nicholas Cage should have (Da Vinci Code). Here I don’t think he was exactly bad, just not great. I’m sure Tom Hanks got a nice pay check here, and I’m convinced someone else could have done just as good a job. Tom Sizemore plays his role well, maybe because he looks a lot like an actual solider, but regardless I think he had a great performance. The rest of the cast, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, and Giovanni Ribsi are all fine, just not memorable. Vin Diesel shows up in an early role, he’s not in it much, but it’s pretty cool seeing him before he turned into an action star. Matt Damon is fine as the title character. Several other actors show up for some reason, including Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, and Ted Danson.

Steven Spielberg is a huge director, who has been around for a long time. I think he does make pretty good films for the most part with a few standouts. The problem I see with him is that, he plays for the masses. This makes his films widely assessable but at the same time, you see no variety, I think directors that make films that do not appeal to everyone makes them for hit or miss, but at the same time I think it is much more interesting to watch a director attempt something knowing that not everybody will like it. But you got to hand it to Spielberg; he knows how to make films everyone will see, or at least want to. Maybe it’s just me, but I really do enjoy seeing films that are completely different and try new things. By this point in his career, I just think Saving Private Ryan feels extremely standard, with nothing to really separate it from any other war films.

War movies have been around for a long time, most wars have gotten movies about them. I think Vietnam easily got the best movies based around it, maybe it’s because it is a much more controversial war than World War II. I can only name one movie based off of The Revolutionary War (The Patriot) and one off of the Civil War (Gettysberg), and you know what, I didn’t like either of those films. The First World War has a great movie, Paths to Glory is an excellent Kubrick movie. World War II has several movies based on it and based on the last decade or so, I don’t think any of them have been that great. Pearl Harbor is a travesty of a film, Valkyrie was hugely disappointing, maybe the only one worth watching was Inglorious Basterds, which is a terrible history lesson but makes for excellent entertainment. So aside from the excellent miniseries Band of Brothers, World War II has a disappointing list of films. I guess compared with its competition, Saving Private Ryan is a step up. It does have a great and powerful opening scene that gives the first twenty minutes or so, some excellent and disturbing footage for a war film. It might be worth noting that the screenwriter Robert Rodat went on to write the Patriot (a movie I personally detest) but seeing as he is the only credited writer, I’m sure a ton of other people worked on it too, and the writing isn’t even a weak point here.

Although receives a lot of praise, I find Saving Private Ryan to be a standard war film. The plot is fine, nothing too original or creative, but it works. Not for 170 minutes, some tighter editing should have been implemented in this. There is a lack of solid World War II films, you may have to go back to the 50’s and see some Audie Murphy films, or watch the miniseries Band of Brothers if you want to see some good ones. So considering all the other recent ones, I suppose you could do worse if you want to watch a WW2 film, just don’t see Pearl Harbor. I didn’t personally enjoy Saving Private Ryan that much but I don’t know, I’m in the minority in this opinion, but then again contrary to everyone else I find Apocalypse Now, Children of Men, and The Usual Suspects to be extremely overrated. I can see why plenty of people love Saving Private Ryan and I thought it was really good the first time, I just don’t think it holds up well on repeated viewings. I do love the final battle; it’s nice and creative and is very exciting. I’ve seen people say this film is racist against Germens, I don’t think I really agree, sure it does portray them as pretty bad people, but they were Nazis. Nothing is really terrible about this film in any sort of way, just incredibly standard.

3 stars

 Cast

 Tom Hanks... Capt. John H. Miller
Tom Sizemore... Sgt. Mike Horvath 

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age