Review of Saving Private Ryan (1998) by Brendan C — 19 Apr 2013

What happens is that there are four Ryan brothers, and three of them have died in the war. The last of the four James Ryan (Matt Damon) is still in the middle of the war, and they order Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks), and his troops to go and get him so that way the mother of the Ryan Brothers won't lose all of her children in the war. At first the group hates the mission and they think it is a waste of time. But eventually they realize that it is their job, and they accept that if they get that done they will be able to go home. They eventually find him, and end up in the most intense battle they have ever been in.

This had to have been the Spielberg film that was the most fascinating to make from his perspective. He took the script that Robert Rodat wrote, and just turned it into the most epic war film of all time. This film in my opinion showed his genius more then any of his other works. Though it is only my third favorite, behind jaws, and Schindler's List. I think it is the one that would have been most fascinating to direct because you are re-creating a war scene, and making it almost exactly accurate. Spielberg just seems to make one epic film after another. That is pretty much true when you think about his whole filmography.

He tends to make a lot of different types of films. He makes the adventurous films Like Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park. He also tends to make these historical masterpieces like Schindler's List, Lincoln, and Munich. This is one of his historical masterpieces. It is just such an epic movies. It also goes into his category of movies with great special effects like E.T., Close Encounters of The Third Kind, and Jurassic Park. The film is just tremendous in many areas.

Another interesting directorial thing that Spielberg does with this film is that he puts in a lot of slow motions sequences in the war scenes. When he does that you see everything through the perspective of John Miller. He see's all of the awful things going on around him in slow motion, and that gives you a more clear perspective of what is happening. It also goes silent to. It is just an incredible idea in my opinion, because I felt like that was when I saw the war scenes most clearly. Overall it is just fascinating, and an incredible job of directing by Spielberg.

This and Apocalypse Now are my two favorite war films. It is just an absolutely epic movie, and changes the definition of epic. This is the most accurate depiction of a war movie of all time. The battle were scenes are so accurate, that apparently real soldiers saw it and got post dramatic stress, because it made them re-live the war they were in. Only Spielberg has the ability to tell it like it really is, and he does it better then anybody. He just can't fail when it comes to making these really historic films. The film is tough to watch, because the war scenes are so intense and accurate that it gives you this feeling like you may be sick, because it is so intense. Well if you are a very squeamish person you will probably find this film sickening to watch, because the war scenes are so accurate, that they really show how awful and scary it must have been to fight in a war. However the fact that it is so accurate makes it so good. There are so many things in the film, that when you watch it, you can't even understand how it is possible to film it. That is why I loved the film so much.