“It’s the thing that seems to suggest that wars aren’t necessarily only won by bodies collected, but also by morale, by having humanity, by sometimes working against logic to retain that sense of self.”
Saving Private Ryan was released in 1998, directed by Steven Spielberg. It follows Captain John Miller and a tight-knit squad of U.S. Army Rangers who are sent on a high-stakes, deeply controversial rescue mission during the chaotic aftermath of the Normandy landings. Together with his men, Miller must navigate through perilous, enemy-occupied French territory to locate and safely bring home Private James Ryan... a young soldier whose three brothers have all been killed in action. This grueling journey forces the unit to confront the devastating psychological toll of combat and question the value of risking eight lives for one, leading to a race against time and a brutal final stand to protect the young private and preserve their own survival.
This is the next film that I am covering for my Steven Spielberg filmography watch-a-thon, and just like Schindler’s List, this was a movie that you kind of have to steel yourself to watch, because it’s a deep, heavy, raw look at the horrors of war. Shouldn’t be too difficult to believe, as both Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan were the only movies Spielberg ever won Best Director for at the Oscars, and the only Best Picture of his went to Schindler’s List. It’s crazy to think about now, thinking back to all of the different near-masterpieces Spielberg has done in his career... and it’s just these two movies that represent Spielberg as an award-winner.
I am also someone that is known to famously not really enjoy war-centered films... but I have often said the best war film that has ever existed, by a clear mile, has been Saving Private Ryan. Right from the get-go, the film opens up with a bang, quite literally... on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day... and then the entire two-and-a-half-hour-long epic centers on eight soldiers on a rescue mission for one soul. It really digs deep into the question of whether it’s really a good idea to risk eight men to save one. But from what I understand, there really is a system in place when it comes to war: if a family goes off to war, and most of the soldiers wind up getting killed in action, they have to pull out the sole survivors and bring them home, so as not to kill off an entire lineage. It’s the part of war that seems to separate us from them. It’s the thing that seems to suggest that wars aren’t necessarily only won by bodies collected, but also by morale, by having humanity, by sometimes working against logic to retain that sense of self.
But even when we look past a lot of that, this really is one of the most brutal, violent, raw war films ever created. It’s action-packed, but not in a dumbed-down blockbuster way... more in a relentless, tragic way. People you like die, people you kinda hate survive. It’s a dog-eat-dog film, but it’s also a dog-eat-dog life, so it’s pretty accurate.
The performances were all pretty strong. You have Tom Hanks in there as the captain, and he does a really good job. You have one side of him who is a chiseled captain, and another half of him that is a peaceful school teacher. It’s strong, but with Tom Hanks, it’s pretty much impossible to say if this is his best performance or not. Then you have Matt Damon as Private Ryan... which was a surprise for a lot of people back in the day. Spielberg wanted an unknown in the role, and he thought he got one, but right before this movie, Matt Damon did Good Will Hunting and got nominated for Best Actor... so everyone knew who he was... but it doesn’t matter. He did great.
But the cast in this film is kind of insane when you think about it. Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, even Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, and Vin Diesel show up in this thing. Sometimes the cast is super random, but at no point do these cast members feel like they don’t fit their roles like a glove.
Overall, it’s a pretty darn flawless film from Spielberg. It is raw, emotional, brutal, narratively solid, with performances across the board that, honestly, have been impossible to forget for nearly three decades.
Technical / Unbiased Score: 48/50 (96%)
Biased / Entertainment Score: 49/50 (98%)
Total Combined Score: 97/100 (97%) — 5/5 on Letterboxd