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Saving Private Ryan Movie Review

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. It’s a memorable and well crafted, but problematic picture.

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“He better be worth it.

He better go home and cure a disease,

or invent a longer-lasting light bulb“

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During the Normandy Invasion of World War II, Captain John Miller is assigned the task of searching for Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have already been killed in the war. As is the case with most Spielberg outings (‘Schindler’s List’ as well), this movie also has its overly sappy elements with the beginning and the ending being particularly emotionally manipulative, but thankfully the rest of the movie wasn’t as sappy.

The Normandy Invasion first act is obviously highly respected when it comes to its technicalities and it truly is very well executed, effective in its epic scope and highly realistic overall. However, I would personally state that the film’s finest moments aren’t in the first, but in the third act. I am talking about the soldiers killing each other in the bloody, violent scenes that made them animalistic and truly scary. It showed how horrible wars can be and in particular the devastation that the soldiers must have been feeling in their last moments before death.

As for the second act, it’s solid as it utilizes more on characterization and dialogue instead of action scenes, which was necessary to flesh out its plot and characters, but still that made the structure of the movie quite unpolished as it’s oddly put together. The editing is good, but the pacing could have been better and the runtime is overlong per usual for Spielberg.

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But my biggest gripe with this movie continues to be its overall subject matter. Its contradictory nature of trying to portray war as devastating to individuals as well as all mankind hurt the movie in the long run, but I was particularly bothered with the overall premise. They did not only make a film about soldiers desperately trying to save one important soldier and many dying in the process, but they also somewhat encouraged the importance of saving one man over many others. That to me felt horrendous as a message and I have simply always opposed WWII films that focus on just the important men and not the whole of humanity. It was a wrong way to go about it, and it made the entire film very overrated.

Tom Hanks is excellent in the main role, very confident and per usual highly capable at emoting. Edward Burns and Tom Sizemore are also pretty good while Matt Damon is solid, though forgettable as the titular Ryan. The movie again never justified making him so important and worthy of so many deaths.

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When it comes to its technical aspects, Saving Private Ryan is obviously highly accomplished in that area. The movie is well edited and well directed by Spielberg, though ‘Schindler’s List’ remains his better World War II movie. Still, I find them both very overrated and this one not winning an Oscar to me isn’t all that controversial whatsoever. But again, the score is good, the action scenes are superbly executed and the cinematography is also strong with some imagery being highly memorable. I just wish that the film was more meaningful thematically speaking.

Technically accomplished due to strong cinematography, some memorable imagery, great editing and of course superbly executed, realistic war sequences, Saving Private Ryan is also well acted and mostly well directed by Spielberg, though the sappiness is once again present in a couple of scenes. The film is overall quite good, but it remains highly problematic in its emphasis on the importance of saving one man instead of focusing on a more global humanistic message.

My Rating – 4

You can get Saving Private Ryan on Amazon.