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Saving Private Ryan Customer Reviews (70 - 72 of 91 Reviews)

"We are going to get him the hell...out of there."
"Saving Private Ryan" is Director Steven Spielberg's acclaimed movie about finding the last surviving brother (one of four) who was part of the Normandy invasion of World War II. Steeped in sentimentallty as Spielberg movies often are, you do feel a genuine sympathy for the characters. There is no getting around the fact that it is a sad movie - as the designated mission accomplishes its goal at great cost.

Perhaps most-notable for its intensely graphic 20-minute opening scene of ther assault of the beach, the movie raises some points about sacrificing for a cause and the standing up for your principles. The movie boasts an impressive cast including Tom Hanks as the captain leading Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, and Vin Diesel, among others, to find Matt Damon. For some of the members, it is just an assignment, for others it is a waste of time, for others it it a noble cause.

The central third of the movie drags a bit, and I had a problem with one of the wimpy characters who almost screws up the mission. His character was a huge, obvious cliche.

The DVD has good a good picture and sound. The extras include a short "A special message from Steven Spielberg" which is mostly an ad for the D-Day museum, and "Into the Breach", a good behind the scenes featurette. Also included are cast/crew detail and a couple trailers.

Disturbing To Some, To Me, Truthful And Realistic.
This movie provides the true horror of World War II, while also providing a 5 star plot and storyline and 5 star acting. "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" tells the heartpounding and heartcrushing tale of ordinary men, doing extraordinary things. Another great thing is that this story is seen throug the eyes of its leader(Tom Hanks, who plays Captain John Miller) and sometimes the men he leads.

Overall acting: 5 stars: Tom Hanks does an excellent, but quiet job in portraying his role as Captain John Miller. Matt Damon, as Private James Ryan is just as convincing. Also, Jeremy Daives does an great job on expessing his characters emotions and thoughts.

Overall plot: 5 stars: Captain John Miller must take his eight men on a journey through Normandy. They have a mission to carry out, thier mission is to find Private James Ryan, who's other three brothers were killed in combat. Because of this, Private Ryan has a free ticket home. Throughout thier journy, the eight men encounter many troubles, and every wrong decision is faced with horrible consequences.

I would not reccomend this to someone with a weak-stomach. Anyways, the DVD is a great buy, I really enjoyed the special features.

A Better DVD Release For An Excellent Film
MOVIE: One of the greatest war films ever made finally has a little justice on DVD. Steven Spielberg loves WWII, he is really fascinated with it. Saving Private Ryan is the true story of a group of men risking their lives for one. Really people see this movie being about the horrors of war but in truth its about finding decency within this war. The movie really spends most of its time focusing on the character of Captain Miller and his journey to find himself. Spielberg even mentions this in the "making of". What this movie has done really well are the editing and the camera work. When combined we have a very genuine feel to the movie and not something churned out by Hollywood such as Windtalkers. The movie also deals with the issues of teamwork and brotherhoods. War is a very unique in that soldiers go into it wanting to fire big guns but in the midst of it they realize more about themselves then ever before, and this movie demonstrates that very well. The opening D-Day scene is intense and probably one of the best edited scenes of all time. Not only will Saving Private Ryan show you the horrors of war like any other war film could, but it will show you how men learn about themselves and human nature within it.

VIDEO: Excellent transfer with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The picture is very sharp and very clear as it should be.

AUDIO: With Spielberg you can expect a DTS mix and here we have a DTS 5.1 mix ready to shake your home theater. Excellent sound for a movie that won one of its Oscars for sound.

PACKAGING / EXTRAS: I love the packaging of this set. It is modeled after an ammo cartridge box used in the war. It's made of very hard cardboard and is very sturdy. The case opens like a box, not like a book. One disc sits in the door of the box and the other is sitting in the bed of it. Very unique. As for extras, there is just enough to make you buy this set, but nothing to go crazy over. The first release was almost stripped bare except for trailers and an interview with Spielberg, but at least here we have a decent look into the movie. The featurettes are very basic actually, just focusing on how Spielberg came to direct the film, the history of the war, the characters, the D-Day scene, a boot camp featurette, sound, and a few others. I'm glad that this set just didn't talk about history and stuff like that and actually looked into the making of the film itself. At least it was better than Schindler's List in terms of extras. I wish they had the trailers on the set though so if I want to watch them I don't have to get out my old set. Overall they just put enough to get the grade, nothing above and beyond.

Movie Score: (5 Stars / 5 Stars)
DVD Score: (8 / 10)

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