Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Encore Review 8

“What’s the saying? “If God’s on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?” ” – Private Reiben

Number of Times Seen – Too many times to count (Twice in the theater, video, DVD, 2 May 2013, 1 Jul 2014, 22 Feb 2016, 2 Jul 2017, 9 Jul 2017, 12 Jun 2018, 4 Jun 2019, 7 Jan 2020 and 7 Nov 2021)

Link to original review –Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A squad of soldiers are sent on a mission right after D-Day to rescue a soldier who lost 3 brothers that week.

My Take on it – Such an amazing film that is one of my all time favorites.

This might be nearly 3 hours long, but I could watch it over and over and ever get tired due to the roller coaster ride that Steven Spielberg takes us on here.

The characters are developed quite well even though many feel like typical war movie stereotype which helps so much along the way.

The characters have great conversations during their journey which add so much more depth to their stories and to the film itself because they discuss the philosophical aspects of war.

Yes. War is Hell and this film reiterates that time and time again and they are able to do so in such a profound and poignant way that makes it resonate for so long after the credits roll.

The cast is superbly led by Tom Hanks a a group o supposed unknowns along for the ride.

The actions scene are some of the most intense ever filmed and actually show the viewer what it must feel like during a battle like this.

The realism of this film is on such a high level and that makes it even scarier to watch because we know that this is the kind of situations that so many soldiers needed to go through during various wartime experiences.

The music by John Williams is excellent and gives the story a great atmosphere the whole way through.

The special effects add so much to the realism of the story and is helped by the amazing cinematography which makes the viewer feel as if they are right there with these characters as it all hits the fan.

I know I always gripe about the fact that this film lost Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love (1998), but it truly is one of the biggest blunders ever in Oscar history.

Yes, Spielberg deservingly won Best Director, but Picture should also have gone to this crew because it’s such an amazingly well rounded film that excels in just about every place.

Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Tom Sizemore was battling drug addiction during production. Steven Spielberg gave him an ultimatum that he would be blood tested on the set every day of filming, and if he failed the test once, he would be fired and the part of Horvath would be recast and re-shot with someone else, even if it was at the end of production. Sizemore agreed and managed to pass all of his tests. Unfortunately, he would relapse into drug abuse several times later in his career. Ironically he played a DEA agent in Point Break (1991) (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)