D-Day Duty 2024 (#7 of 9) Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Encore Review 13

Yesterday was the 80th Anniversary of D-Day and over this weekend, I have watched and reviewed movies connected to the commemoration of this day.

“We are not here to do a decent thing, we are here to follow f*ckin’ orders!” – Captain Miller

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, 7 Nov 2021, 31 Mar 2022, 6 Jun 2022, 29 Mar 2023, 30 Jan 2024 and 7 Jun 2024)

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

Brief Synopsis – A squad of soldiers are sent on a mission behind enemy lines following D-Day in order to find a soldiers who’s three brothers were recently killed in combat.

My Take on it – Wow! It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve watched this film, it still is so powerful and poignant every single time. The film opens with a bang and we are given nearly a half hour of the fighting on the beaches of Normandy. These scenes are brutally realistic and allow for the viewer to get the actual feel as if they are right there during the invasion itself. The characters are developed really well and it helps keep things moving at a great pace as things unfold. Steven Spielberg created a masterpiece with this film and it is IMHO the greatest war film ever made. They won 5 of 11 Oscar nominations including Best Director for Spielberg. I know I say this every time, but I’m still baffled even after 26 years that this film didn’t win Best Picture at the Oscars. The realism is amazing here and works so well in showing the hell of war while also showing the camaraderie among brothers in arms.

Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Steven Spielberg is on record as saying that even if the film had received an NC-17 rating, he would have released it uncut anyway. (From IMDB)

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