Review of Saving Private Ryan (71)

Plot
Following the Allied invasion of Normandy, two brothers lay dead in the wake of the onslaught. Meanwhile, in New Guinea, a third brother has been killed fighting the Japanese. After the Army General Staff learns that a fourth brother is missing in the French countryside, a rescue mission is ordered to find the young soldier and return him safely home.

Jason’s Thoughts
Saving Private Ryan is the second war movie we have had to watch thus far on our movie list.  The other movie was Platoon and I wrote that at times it felt that I was actually in the front lines while watching that movie.  Saving Private Ryan gave me that same feeling but increased tenfold.  

The opening sequence of the Normandy Invasion was as amazing as it was intense.  It was total chaos, which is what I can only image what war would be like.  After the tremendous battle scene, however, the plot of the movie was discovered, which is to find a certain Private Ryan and return him to the United States.  From that point, the movie begins to considerably slow down until the final battle scene begins.

Between the two epic battle scenes we see the group finding the wrong Private Ryan and losing their squad members during their rescue mission for one man.  Due to this, I am reminded of yet another movie we have watched from the list and that is The Wild Bunch.  Both movies had a shallow plot bookend between two huge battle scenes, however, the acting, visual effects, camera work and musical score made Saving Private Ryan enjoyable to watch and really saved the movie.  

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that Saving Private Ryan is a good movie, although I feel that it either suffered from a lack of a story or was too long for the script that it was given.  If the film was cut down to around two hours or had there have been a little more meat to the story for the near three hour film, Saving Private Ryan could have easily been a 5-star movie.  The narrow plot, however, brought it down a notch in my mind.

Crystal’s Thoughts
I seen Saving Private Ryan shortly after it was originally released.  I'll admit that I wasn't crazy about watching it again, as for me, it falls into the category of being a very "bloody" movie.  As I watched it as part of this venture, however, I realized that it took exception camera work and filming to create that feeling within me and other viewers.  The bloody shores of Normandy really make one think about what the soldiers of WWII saw and had to live though, if they even survived.  

The critic in me though does question if it really was that bloody?  Did individuals really flail around with an arm blown off?  And did the blood really splatter as it was depicted in this movie?  I only question this as we recently watched a movie set in/about Vietnam, and my dad, the Vietnam vet, flat out stated to us that some of what they showed really wasn't that way.  In particular, the goriness of soldiers being killed.  Then I remind myself, I am watching a movie, and this is part of the intrigue.  But part of me walks away a bit upset too as some people never know what really happened.  Movie makers simply glorify something to make it better for the screen and audience.  Again though, they did excellent camera work in Saving Private Ryan, especially with how real the bloody water splattering onto the camera lens appeared.

Other than the phenomenal work done with the filming, I admit that I question why this movie is one of the greatest of all times.  It does include a sprinkling of well known actors, and a story line that finds the soft spot in all of our hearts as our soldiers fought so everyone could be free.  However, those few aspects were all I could see that made this movie.  Its length didn't help make its case to me either.

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