Saving Private Ryan

Steven Spielberg's magnificent new film, Saving Private Ryan, redefines the World War II movie.

A movie of staggering virtuosity and raw lyric power, a masterpiece of terror, chaos, blood, and courage.

No Hollywood film within recent memory has achieved such richness and originality of texture, such a compelling amalgam of passionate human drama and awesome technique.

Spectacular, wrenching masterpiece that unflinchingly documents the random horror, the grisly spectacle and the ugliness of war.

A magnificent piece of movie-making.

Using the overpowering techniques of modern film, Steven Spielberg has cut through the glory-tinged gauze that shrouds World War II to reveal its brutal reality, creating a phenomenology of violence unsurpassed in the history of cinema.

Nothing that suggests an independent vision, unless you count seeing more limbs blown off than usual.

I still remember watching this on its release in UK and I remember teenager me, nervously joking with my pals munching on sweets in anticipation only to turn around, literally seeing a group of elderly veterans, medals on display sitting stoically. We quietened down and Spielberg took us all for the ride of our lives. It still holds up well today in part due to how it set the terms for the now over used handheld documentary style of action movies and its subdued colour palette. I can't quite express but the experience was so realistic and visceral to me it just felt like I was inside the real wartime experience. This became the peak for the director and the casting, writing, vfx sound effects and overall production quality are all just the peak of what cinema was/is capable of in terms of storytelling. It raised the bar for war movies few directors have reached this again!

İlk izlediğimdeki tadı alamadım. Yaşlandık artık sanırım. Gerçeği tatmak, kurgunun tadını kaçırıyor...

It tells a military mission set in the Second World War. The basic plot is quite simple but this, combined with well-made action scenes, not excessive throughout the film and a linear and functional development, makes the film really enjoyable and above the average of the genre.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is a typical Hollywood movie with lots of flash but no substance. The story is a joke and the characters are as one-dimensional as you can get. There's lots of big explosions, blood, and body parts, so if that's your thing, this is for you, but if you're looking for something more, you'd best look elsewhere. Try Platoon, Thin Red Line, the Dirty Dozen, or even Patton for a more worthwhile experience.