Review of Saving Private Ryan (1998) by Jspotter89 — 07 Nov 2014

Saving Private Ryan is nothing short of the greatest war movie ever made (to this point). The only other media that comes close is Band of Brothers (also involving Hanks and Spielberg), but as a miniseries it's in another category.

When this movie came out, we all knew that the opening battle sequence changed war films forever. There simply had never and hasn't since been such a visceral, overwhelming, intense depiction of warfare anywhere else. Movies and video games since have tried to imitate it and don't come close.

If The Thin Red Line and Life Is Beautiful hadn't come out in the same year, I don't think there's any way this film would not have taken Best Picture. I never have seen Shakespeare in Love, so I won't criticize it as if I had, but it must have been remarkable to beat this genre-redefining movie. If it wasn't remarkable, then this might be the biggest snub in Oscar history.

Tom Hanks is at his best in SPR. I don't think he was better in either Philadelphia or The Green Mile. It's not just Hanks, though. All of the supporting actors, even Vin Diesel and Tom Sizemore, are impeccable.

The scene at the end of the movie when Hanks dies is one I still can't watch 16 years later without tearing up. When he looks at Ryan (and the camera is just over his should, so he is basically looking right at the camera) and says "Earn this," he is saying that to all of us. Earn the sacrifice that a whole generation paid in blood for all of us. That's what turns this movie into something far more profound and important than any myriad of other WWII and war films in general.