Saving Private Ryan

Movie Title: Saving Private Ryan
Official Website (it might still work): Saving Private Ryan
Rating (out of 10): 8
Reviewed By: Michael Stevens
Buy the: Video/DVD \| Soundtrack
The Review:

I'm Mr. Michael Stevens here with the Out & About movie review of Tom Hanks and Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan. World War Two, the Big One, but not our deadliest war. And in fact compared to some of the other countries involved we fared pretty good in the casualties area. But our biggest accomplishment in the war, other than ultimately beating Nazi Germany and then freeing the Jews, of course we were a bit late for six or seven million of them, but that's another story. The next biggest feat was the D-Day invasion on June sixth 1944 in Normandy, that's in France where King William the Conquer came from and once belonged to Britain, before the 100 years war ended. Anyway, lots of Allied troops landed on the shores of the English Channel where they got to see up close and personal Hitler's Fortress Europe, a little project he had been fooling around with for four years. The invasion was the largest amphibian invasion in world history that has not yet been surpassed, and unlike the invasion of Somalia a few years back, CNN was not there to greet the G.I.s. Instead thousands of German troops w e re waiting for them and what followed was a very bloody mess, but one that the Allies were victorious in and that then paved the way for conquering Germany. O.K., enough with the history lesson, on with the movie. Yes the reports of extreme violence for the first 15 minutes or so are correct, and anyone who is faint of heart should show up late. The scenes are powerful and I hope people like Saddam Hussein will watch the movie and then become enlightened and stop causing wars. The opening scenes show what are supposed to be the true horrors of war, but I've never been in a war and wouldn't really know if it is true to life. But from the history that I have studied, and which I have a degree in, I think the body count was a bit inflated for t he movie, not a lot, but some. In Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks plays a captain sent on a mission to retrieve the brother of three dead soldiers and send him home. Hanks puts in a great performance and so does the supporting cast. The son that needs saving is played by Good Will Hunting's Matt Damon, which you might guess is private Ryan, hence the title. The story, based loosely on a true story is interesting and the rigors of war are intense, but I was hoping for more from a film directed by master craftsman Steven Spielberg and starring Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks, and yes Matt Damon also won an Oscar but that was for screenwriting. Don't get me wrong it is still a good movie, which surprisingly has a fair amount of humor in it, but I just expected more. So in the end it has a good, powerful story, good acting, and a realistic, and sometimes surreal, feeling to it. So for the Out & About rating of Saving Private Ryan, I give it eight couches out of ten, and definitely recommend seeing it.