All war movies capture a piece of the brutality that is war but only a very few bring forth the full carnage that war is. In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, director Steven Spielberg drags the viewer out of his seat and throws him into the sound and fury of modern war. Critics have noted that with the opening scene of GIs getting machine gunned by Wehrmacht troopers on Omaha Beach on D-Day, Spielberg begins a three hour howl of pain that affects the soul as much as it does the body. It is impossible to feel nothing even for the Germans who die by the hundreds.

Tom Hanks is Captain Miller who has the thankless task of bringing home Private Ryan whose three other brothers have died in battle. The question of the morality to do this while others are equally deserving a ticket home is announced by Ryan (Matt Damon) himself who refuses to leave while his comrades need him. It is this subtext of ethics versus pragmatism that imbues the film with the multi-layers of interpretation that result in equally multi-viewings. There are numerous scenes in which a soldier will pause while directly involved in a life and death struggle to detach himself from the fray to consider some basic concepts that mark him as human. Jeremy Davies plays a GI interpreter who must face the morality of what it means to use his linguistic skills as simply one more element for killing the enemy. Nearly everyone in Capt. Miller's squad also wonders whether their lives are collectively worth the one whose three brothers were killed. What makes this insane struggle to quantify the unquantifiable work is the realization that the ability to judge the worth of such a sacrifice cannot be realized until much later when the now elderly Private Ryan pauses in front of the grave of Capt. Miller to pass judgment on an event that for everyone save him is only of historical interest. To know that he is one who has tried his best to live the Good Life somehow lets him sleep at night. We in the audience can share this most intimate of moments.

Awesome movie, even better with this edition. If you don't have a copy of this film, definitely get it. If you have a copy of the film, but you enjoy WWII history, etc. get it. Enjoy.

The first scenes of "Saving Private Ryan" are spectacular. You are with the landing force as it hits the beach at Normandy. Shells are exploding, landing craft are blowing up and machine gun bullets are pinging off of metal. Craft bow hatches are let down only to let machine gun bullets enter and wipe out the would-be invaders. Still other soldiers, loaded down with ammo and weapons, jump out into deep water to sink and drown on the spot.

Survivors scramble to the beach where they are shot down in the scores. Eventually, they organize, push through with Bangalor mines and are able to destroy points of German resistance. Germans who surrender are mown down without mercy. [Hey, What about the Geneva Convention?]. After this exciting segment, the movie settles down to a pretty average World War II movie. We win most of the fights.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico

I know a lot of people consider this some kind of classic, but I find it to be one of the most depressing films I've ever watched. I'll take "To Hell and Back," "The Big Red One," or "Sands of Iwo Jima," to name a few, over this film anyday.

I know "War is Hell," and a terrible thing and all, but I don't need those facts driven home quite this forcibly.

This movie is a bummer to watch and I'll never watch it again (with all due respect to Tom Hanks, a great actor)!

The only other thing that comes close to this is the Band of Brothers mini series. Very cool and well done.

The best WWII film ever made. I've got a bunch of other movies in the genre and nothing comes close to the realism and the quality of the film making. There is an aura to this movie. The way the colors are sort of drab and drowned out is amazing. It gives you a sense of being there. I think about this movie a lot lately. I dunno why, but I always want to put it in. I pray that someone makes something close to how good this is some day. I feel like we've reached the top and there's no place left but down. If you haven't picked this up, go to best buy or circuit city. You can get it for $5.99 for God's sake! There is no reason to not own this if you are interested in WWII at all. A masterpiece!

Great movie! My son loves this particular movie because the scene at Omaha Beach is so life like! If you love war movies, this one is excellent!

by this date, anyone reading this will have already seen the movie.

by most accounts, this movie is a success in practically every aspect.

the DVD on the other hand absolutely ROCKS if you have the DTS version on a DTS-compatible receiver with 5/1 or 6.1 surround DTS ES.

along with Master & Commander, the beach-storming sequence in the beginning is a showroom piece that is at the top of every audiophile's favorite DVD list.

absolutely outstanding DTS mix.

Yesterday, I watched Saving Private Ryan for the first time in about a decade, was struck by the realism and the small character moments that tie the film together and make it great, and I find myself wondering why I don't know more about my grandparents' lives in this harsh time...and contemplating what other truths from this time I have yet to uncover.

Stark and raw, this film is, but what makes it superb are those personal moments.

One of the top ten movies of all time - hard to watch because of the stark reality of war. But a must see movie !

Great Buy


Z

Saving Private Ryan was purchased to show in my World History class that I teach at a private school. An engaging movie, it kept the student's interest and engraved in their minds the history surrounding D-Day and the significance of the landing and following occupation of France in 1944.

The slow beginning may bore most people, other than that the story revolves around why a Military Organisation is never ever 100% efficient. Gore wasn't extreme, probably 2/5 for gory.
Not much extreme action, but when there's action they were great. 4/5
Story line is wonderful and believable. 5/5
Authenticity, 4/5

As a result of the largely inane dialogue that arises out of pop culture's rabid desire to impute a sense of hierarchy to aesthetic works, there has been a stupid tendency to exalt works that convey the abstruse, the obscure, the macabre, the anti-climactic, the anti-cliche if you will. But those who say that Spielberg is overrated or lacks the cerebral auteurism of a Kubrick, the uncanny ability to manipulate suspense and fear such as Hitchcock, the lugubrious quiddities of a Kurosawa, or the romantic wit of Woody Allen, are absolutely stupid, to say the least. Spielberg is arguably the greatest director ever, and indisputably the most influential (one need not look further than the preponderance of escapist films made after the 70's). It is no mere hyperbole to say that Saving Private Ryan is the bar none the greatest war movie ever made, and probably ranks among the top 10 or 20 greatest films ever made.

The movie commences with a trip down memory lane, as we see an old man and his family clearly in distress. Intuitively we must assume the man seeks isolation--affirmed by his retrospection after he sees the grave of a soldier; the connection is not yet drawn though between this old man the grave at his feet. From the opening scene, wherein the audience bares witness to the pure and undistilled brutality of military carnage, Spielberg's technical virtuosity--unmatched in the history of film making--is no more apparent than when he uses the hand-held oscillations of the camera to convey a sense of presence to the scene. That is to say, the audience feels as if it is indeed part of the calamity it is privy to. The jarring immediacy of death--a motif revisited throughout the movie--appears at the blink of an eye as soldiers drop dead without even leaving their boats, and even more glaringly as we see soldiers drown, caught in the straps of their uniform and gear. Spielberg, chided as a sentimentalist, an unfair claim espoused by many who frankly don't know what the hell their talking about (such absolute labels are silly), conjures a sense of realism one doesn't see even in Full Metal Jacket (another great war movie, that pales in comparison to this). When bullets kill a soldier asking for advice in front of Tom Hanks, his death is not dramatized but a reminder that stagnancy in war is fatal. As for my last observation of the first scene--the piez de resistance--Spielberg curiously mutes all sound in the middle of the scene and the audience is temporarily transformed into first person viewer; cringing as men grab their intestines to keep them from falling out, recoiling as blood leaks from every orifice as soldiers run by, stunned when Spielberg, in a brief fusion of comedy and tragedy that Aristotle would be proud of, shows us a soldier with one arm turning in circles looking for his other arm. This, among many technical manipulations, represents a reprisal of conscience because in that brief 1st-person transference we are reminded of the omniscience of death and men, who must kill or be killed, die or effect death, lose pieces of their souls in war in a way that can only be shown in silence.

This movie is not for the light-hearted, but violence, as many of the more acute reviewers have stated, is not gratuitous. Yes some of his movies are flawed, or are simply bad, and yes at times he values style over substance, some of which even lack the former, and yes he has made tons of money; but above all Spielberg is a genius and this movie should be added to the cannon of unequivocally great movies made in World & American cinema. I leave with a simple message: the greatness of a movie, a director, or indeed any art, lies in its ability to change a person--to laugh, to cry, to fear is not enough. If one leaves a movie with an altered perception of things, perhaps a heightened understanding, then that work of art is indeed great.

This is an amazing movie. And the first seen of the Storming of Normandy was uterly shocking. Definitely a movie to own.

I was very disappointed in this movie, overall. It contained parts that were very graphic, but other than that it really wasn't very good. After the shore invasion, the story really took a turn, and not for the better. I found the whole story boring.

This movie is what changed my life and also what open my eyes in having knowledge of WWII, it also got me playing PC games like Medal of honor and Combat Flight Simulator and IL2 flight sims and Battlefield:1942 games. I live in south Georgia, so were surrounded by alot of wooded areas and when I go out side when the sun is setting I hear the birds chirp and in some cases in the movie there are simular scenes. Over all great movie, all the actors are some of my favorite actors of all time. This movie is a must have. I don't have this special edition yet, but I do have the widescreen dts/Dolbysurround sound edition.

muy buena pelicula, lo demalo es que solo trae subtitulos en español en los adicionales y no en la misma pelicula. tengo que mejorar mi ingles

This is one of my all-time favorites. It arrived in new condition as promised.

This was a pretty fun action movie, but not as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg has done much better. Plus it was a bit too anti-German for my tastes. Some nice slam-bang action scenes, but overall not the roller coaster ride I was expecting.

Saving Private Ryan (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)

Great War story turned cinema depiction. A welcomed addition to my History films. I also recommend: Schedulers' List and Enemy at the Gate. The movie is a 8 of 10.

Los Angeles, Ca.

"Saving Private Ryan" is historical because it depicts the average WWII soldiers' sense of loss and regret. There are really two themes to this film. First, a small band of American soldiers led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) must find Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) from his combat position as part of a public relations and humanitarian cause of the high command due to the fact that Ryan has lost all three of his brothers to combat death within a week of one another. Second, the real theme of this film is the depiction of WWII type combat action. Both themes run together quite well and what we end up with is the best war movie ever made.

The combat in this film is grisly and terrible. A few of the scenes are so anti-Nazi, though, that there is little consideration for the average German soldier, who may or may not have been die hard Nazis. They are depicted as die hards so that Spielberg can set up his own storyline, which he pulls off very well.

This film also broke new ground in the depiction of combat and there are so many films that have copied it since that it is clear that "Saving Private Ryan" set a special effects standard for Hollywood on a level that "Star Wars" did back in the 70s and early 80s.

Even if you hate war films I recommend that you watch this movie at least once. It is a kind of a historical document and it will allow you to better appreciate the burden of the WWII soldier who gave so much to win freedom for the world in a time of dark tyranny.

In my opinion, this movie is easily one of the top ten to fifteen movies ever made.

The best movie I have ever seen regarding World War II and D-Day in Europe. The fighting scenes did well in illustrating the horrors of war and how gruesome things can get. This movie is a must for everyone's library.

I remember working in the DotCom field in the Silicon Valley, going to see this movie on opening day. Like most hot-headed nerds in the valley, I ran my mouth off about accuracy in movie-making, nitpicking it, and generally being a loser after the movie was over while friends smoked cigarettes in the parking lot. An old Vietnam vet walked up to me, obviously shaken by what he had just watched and calmly, succintly, and tersely put me rightfully in my place. Now, nine years later, and two combat tours along the most hotly contested areas with the Taliban in Afghanistan later, I can say he was right. This movie touches so many nerves, makes things so real, I am at a loss for words. Languages - all of them - fail to express our emotions at their peaks and valleys alike, and as such, the feelings this movie bring forth of memories of loss, courage and brotherhood are all too real.

I'm not a WWII historian, so obviously, not an expert on the accuracy there. But the portrayal of the men, while limited in depth compared to the intimacy of knowledge men have of each other in real combat, is accurate, and I am an "expert" on such a thing. It's like modern war video games in that the actual simulation of combat itself is NOT accurate, but the emotional experience that it offers you is. If you want to watch a movie and have a reaction that really is indicitive of what it's like to witness front-line combat, I don't think any movie ever made has really come close to SPR.

What really got to me was the German captive. There's nothing quite as telling as the human face of the enemy, and the disastrous effects of sometimes doing the right thing - but it's still the right thing.

I love this movie. Spielberg is a wonderful human being for making this movie. I can have my parents watch it; their fathers, who were there in WWII, and their son, now at war himself - this film puts it all in context. I don't even need to say a word.

Thank you, Mr. Spielberg.

Once told. Never forgotten. It will live in our memories forever. If you should remember one film about those who must fight, kill and die in war then remember this one. Parts of the dialog are fleeting and ponderous like bits and pieces of broken memories but they seem ever so important just the same. Bits and pieces. Is that all that remains? I hope not. A film can never represent what it was really like but pits and pieces are as close as we will ever likely come to that moment back then. Bits and pieces are true.

For some reason this film annoys me. The film has a great cast and it has some spectacular parts which are really intense. For example, the opening invasion was great. I heard one vet remark. "The only thing missing was the smell." The knife fight between Mellish and the SS soldier was intense and even bothered some people. I even liked the interaction between the soldiers during lulls.

For me this could have been a better story if it was kept simple with the harsh realities of war. However, what started to annoy me was the layers of schmaltz that were added in. The premise sounds neat but I really doubt a veteran ranger unit would be sent to find one guy in the middle of a war zone. It's a waste of highly trained men.

Corpral Upham to me was an infuriating character. I suspect that it's Spielberg injecting himself into the story as some story tellers sometimes do. I am finding people either love him or hate him. He annoyed me to no end and never mind the fact he got a few men killed. Mellish, the paratrooper that was with him, and Captain Miller.

Steamboat Willie. This character became a blunder due to casting. Many people think that he and the man who stabbed Mellish are the same. They are not. One is SS and Willie I think is Luftwaffe. It gave the impression the Upham shot him for killing Mellish.

Private Ryan. Now I wish they left Matt Damon off the credits. The fact I suspected he was Ryan took away from a great scene where the find a Private Ryan, tell him his brothers are dead, and learn it's not him. It was really sad to hear him cry. The shock factor was lost since I knew it was not him.

One thing I noticed was wrong was the P-51 "tank busters" They really didn't do that often. That was usually the job of the P-47 Thunderbolts. The P-51 was an areal fighter and was not armored for that kind of duty. I read somewhere somebody looked up the unit from the insignia of the planes and said they didn't have P-51s at that time. They were still flying the P-47s.

The second DVD is a "watch it once" thing. It's interesting to see how they made the film but it's not something you will return to often. I thought they could have done more with information about the battle itself.

Overall, it's a good film. But as I said it annoys me due to the premise and the schmaltz factor.

First 20 minutes makes this one of the top 100 films ever made - JUST DON'T SHOW THE KIDS!

Powerful, moving, epic...the clichés go on; while it is all of these and more, it is also somewhat of a narrow view of the U.S. in WWII. Fictionalized and Americanized, Saving Private Ryan seems to be somewhat lacking in comparison to The Longest Day or Band of Brothers, though the former probably lacks the special effects, and the latter the all star cast to earn the same unquestioned respect.

Unlike The Longest Day, the film makes basically no mention of anyone else's contributions to D-Day besides the US. It also just a made up story within real events, despite the far more accurate Band of Brothers, along with other war films. It never really demonizes the Germans, but depicts them purely as unknown enemies and nothing else. Both The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! took the time to show the other side's part in the war, without turning too neutral or lopsided. Here they don't even bother with subtitles, further alienating audiences from any sort of understanding to what they are saying or thinking.

Though its gallons of gore and use of shaky camera work are important to combat scenes, they quickly lose their value after the opening half hour. Unfortunately, they seem to have inspired a sort of bloodier-than-thou standard by which to make war movies, most notably in Black Hawk Down, the school of thought being that louder and more violent somehow creates a better movie. Granted, since the end of the Vietnam War and into the 1980s, war films have always felt obligated to keep cranking up the violence, but Saving Private Ryan takes it to a new level, where we probably won't be returning from anytime soon.

Amid all this onscreen chaos most of the actors do a fine job and maintain a sort of order. Yes, they are all very strong stereotypes, a few almost intolerably so, plus Vin Diesel and Matt Damon seem out of place here, but nobody really detracts from the storytelling, and it leaves you wishing for more background. With these big stars and its director, the movie's success was never in question and it pays off in production values and the authenticity of equipment, weapons, uniforms, and sets.

Overdone in places (the opening shots of the American flag felt like a bad political ad), with too much emphasis on blood, guts, and the magic of Hollywood special effects, Saving Private Ryan nonetheless leaves viewers emotionally and physically drained. It is not an easy film to watch, regardless of the carnage, and its heavy emotions are not easy to forget. A strong war film throughout, it should be seen to gain some understanding of the US on D-Day.

What sets "Saving Private Ryan" apart from many other war films is its stunning portrayal of combat. The confusion, brutality, and noise of war are brilliantly realised by the director and cinematographer.

It's not perfect, however. The central premise is a bit too cute and the framing device of a veteran visiting a war cemetary is overly sentimental, especially right at the very end.

Spielberg's commentary on WWII is not the "masterpiece" that many purport it to be, but it is still a fine film.

Awesome WWII movie. Very Graphic. Realistic images of WAR, including death, decapitation and amputation from munitions, so be careful about viewing this movie. Unique and heart-warming storyline. Mom has lost 2 of 3 sons and Tom Hanks unit is tasked with finding and getting the thrid (private Ryan) home alive. Very INTENSE. This movie will make you FEEL like you are right there on the battle field. A Speilberg movie, so the cinematography and techniques he uses are top of the line and add incredible drama to the story.

Though I liked this movie overall, though there are some outstanding shots, sequences, and effects, and though I would probably recommend it to friends and acquaintances as one of the better cinema treatments about World War II, my expectations were too disappointed to engage in high praise of this work. I had many serious "problems" with SPR from the very opening overtly false patriotic flag scene to the very end.

The opening scene of Ryan as an old man visiting the Normandy cemetery was fine except for one very annoying factor, John Williams, lush, overly-sentimental BS musical pretensions, which we've heard 100 times already, and in almost every scene in which this score swelled, I felt it was inappropriate. I would've much rather have heard no music whatsoever throughout the film, or at least a very subtle form of and use of. I don't really like being manipulated like this. And various scenes do this. A lush musical war, no thanks.

The most striking example of the film's almost soulless failure to do justice to its apparent agenda and real blood and guts reality (to show how utterly abominable real war is), brings me to yet another complaint. The films' cinema verite, shaky documentary camera style. NYPD Blue on amphetamines...

A little of this "style" can go a long way. Drenching entire scenes lasting several minutes, was totally ineffective and pretentious to me. Some of the wobbly camera in the opening sequence, was very potent, like the troops running towards the beach. This gave the viewer a real sense of being there, of being in a frantic state of confusion, attempting to move forward into a frightening and imposing blur of horror and motion. However, a bit later, when Hanks and his men are using a mirror at the end of a rifle to try to find out where a particular German machine gun is firing from, why shake the camera? When the medics are trying to fix up wounded men on the beach, why shake the camera? If one were there watching these things, they would simply not be seeing it from this perspective. Again, this whole technique was so overused to me.

What's so disappointing about SPR is that it just could've been done so much better, in so many areas. Long, boring, unimaginative sequences are followed by Hollywood hokum. The truly outstanding radar attack sequence, stood out. The characters were given a REAL identity to me during this portion. But for all the talk (hype?) of blood and gore and entrails in SPR's beginning, to me, the only really powerful depictions of real war in the film, was specifically in the segment when one of the GI's chests was pumping gushes of bright red blood, in addition to some opening shots.

Why wasn't there so much more of this however? Why not show utterly horrible pain and suffering and death? That which is real war? That which is happening even as I write this, which I hope Spielberg or one of his other cronies may deal with in the near future, about Iraq. Holding my breath, but not too long.

The entire Axis prisoner scene, was good. There was a real tension here, and I easily felt myself not watching a movie anymore, but feeling as if I had some sort of personal stake in what I was watching. In SPR, Spielberg's more delicate and subtly discriminating add-ons, were clearly the best moments of the film. All the blood and violence and special effects of the opening and closing sections (the closing sections having nearly as much power as the opening ones), never came close for me, in displaying the real horror of war, than this one little middle section, which culminated in two men on the same side, almost killing each other because a "bad guy" POW was being released.

There were and are WAY TOO MANY shots for me of Americans mowing down whole groups of German soldiers, like as if this was a standard scene out of WWII (it wasn't). It IS a standard, stereotypical scene out of WWII MOVIES however. I had hoped for much more however, in SPR. Otherwise, in Spielberg's fantasy WWII world, whole German squads can easily be mowed down by a single GI, and tanks and other weapons can be disabled with nothing more than some good old GI Joe bravery. For all the effects, for all the blood and guts that ARE shown, SPR continually refuses to step over certain lines. It wants to be two things at once, which is its ultimate undoing, to show the "reality" of war, but to do it in an entertaining Hollywood story suited for mass consumption.

I have to say this film, like digestible war-movie filler candy before and after, satisfies for awhile, but there are no great ideas here, no true moral or political or philosophical "center" or soul. And there is nothing groundbreaking here except for a few FX enhanced "war scenes." There are much better WWI&II films, of all stripes. I'd suggest "Enemy at the Gates," or "Paths of Glory,' or even the low budget "A Midnight Clear." For starters.

This is a fairly good war film, but not a "great" war film. DVD extras aside. What the film clearly does wrong, cannot in the final analysis, overcome the few things it does really great and right. Entertaining? Yes. Transcendent? But only if one is easily prone to hype, political, or cinematic, or falsely (IMO) "patriotic" propaganda. This viewer is none of the above, and in the end, to me is just another Steven Spielberg misfire, which garnered and continues to receive critical/popular praise truly undeserved, compared to so many other much more worthy WWII films. As well as documentaries. I wish the whole script had been rewritten/filmed, concentrating on D-Day alone, and never diverted into a corny, schmaltzy retread of almost any other good or bad WWII flick since, or afterwards.

'SAVING PRIVATE RYAN' STRUCK ME AS: HARD-HITTING - GRAPHIC & EMOTIONAL WITHOUT OVERT SENTIMENTALISM OR SIMPLY THE 'CITIZEN KANE' OF WAR FILMS,

VERY SIMPLY STATED:

This is the most visceral, in-your-face war epic I have ever experienced. But "Saving Private Ryan" is much more than that, as it gives us a well-developed story line and characters we come to care about during the natural unfolding of the story.

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?:

After landing on Normandy through the most visceral and graphically-realistic re-creation ever put to film, this ensemble of American soldiers and the film itself slow down to catch their breath and hand us a great story, having now prepared us for it. The heroic "everyman" types that comprise this small band are fleshed out as they go through their mission to find Private Ryan. It's a sort of follow-the-yellow-brick-road-to-Hell kind of mission that is just about impossible for them to reconcile. What is so important about Private Ryan? See the film and you will find out.

BOTTOM LINE:

Action, drama, and morality are all mixed together in the cauldron of wholesale killing that was the second World War. The "right thing" to do is very difficult to decipher, both by these soldiers and by us viewers, but in no film is the topic more in-your-face realistic and emotionally-supercharged.

After seeing the Normandy sequences in this film, such similar epic recreations as in "The Longest Day" seem not just tame, but also emotionally-removed and from a safe distance. "Saving Private Ryan" is one of the best and most captivating films of any genre that I have ever experienced.

----- CAST

Tom Hanks - Capt. John Miller
Edward Burns - Private Richard Reiben
Tom Sizemore - Sgt. Horvath
Jeremy Davies - Cpl. Upham
Vin Diesel - Pvt. Caparzo
Adam Goldberg - Pvt. Mellish
Barry Pepper - Pvt. Jackson
Giovanni Ribisi - T/4 Medic Wade
Matt Damon - Pvt. James Ryan
Dennis Farina - Lt. Col. Anderson
Ted Danson - Capt. Hamill
Harve Presnell - Gen. George Marshall

----- PRODUCTION CREW:

Steven Spielberg - Director / Producer
Ian Bryce - Producer
Mark Gordon - Producer
Gary Levinsohn - Producer
Robert Rodat - Screenwriter
Janusz Kaminski - Cinematographer
John Williams - Composer (Music Score)

ABOUT THE DVD:

Great Transfer of both audio and video. Compared to the VHS edition, it is like viewing a different and better film due to the transfer, NOT any change in the content, which is identical.

"Director's Message" is well put and needs to be said, but I can only say I wish there was more, a lot more.

Behind-The-Scenes Featurette: A segment titled "Into The Breach" was excellent, but frankly this film needs more than a 24-minute short and you can get more on the 2-Disk DVD 60th Anniversary edition.

Without doubt this movie ranks in my top 5 of all time favourites! In fact I have just recently played the Medal of Honour PC game which begins in the same way as this movie does. Except for the harsh reality of the movie!!! The most astonishing start to any movie I have ever seen (Ghost Ship comes close), this movie is just incredible. Buy it, Watch it & then watch it again...... I may have to purchase a second!!!!

Great War, WWII movie. you have to see it. Great graphics, realism and plot. MUST SEE!!!

From the opening scenes to coming full circle in the closing scenes, Saving Private Ryan is a movie and emotionally draining film that leaves you analyzing your own life to determine if you have led a life worth the sacrifices the men and women of our armed forces have made.

Speilberg has created another masterpiece. Just when I thought he could not create a movie more vital than Schindler's List, he comes up with Saving Private Ryan. I cannot say enough about this film. If bloody realism is not something you can stomach then move past the initial Normandy invasion scenes. If you can stomach it though, I encourage watching the scenes because they set the tone for the characters.

This is one of a few films every household should own.

I had to watch Saving Private Ryan a second time -years later- to fully understand the importance of World War II, and specifically, what the soldiers had to go through. The first 30 minutes of film were truly something unbelievable. The emotions I felt watching the soldiers landing on shore and being surrounded by enemies who didn't hesitate to attack was overwhelming. I seriously wanted to cry. It really touched me on a personal level that I've never felt in a war movie before. It made me realize what was going on. 40 years before I was born *this* kind of extreme violence was happening on Earth. It was enough to make me sick. Human beings killing each other left and right. I've never seen a war movie really show the extreme nature of war quite like this film.

I'm totally serious- the movie begins on a really intense level, and continues for the next 30 minutes without letting up on all sorts of gun shootings, explosions, bodies falling apart and drifting away, hopeless feelings lingering in the air. I can't imagine what it must be like to serve in war, and honestly, this movie really opened my eyes and showed me how important it is to support our troops and what they must be going through on a daily basis. The film may be only 2 and a half hours long, but the war lingered on for years, and I can only imagine it eventually reached a point when people were beginning to wonder "Is this war ever going to end?"

Saving Private Ryan will surprise and shock you on many occasions. Sometimes the film seems so real it's almost like you're there with the soldiers. I recommend buying the movie.