Saving Private Ryan (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Steven Spielberg
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Actor: Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Tom SizemoreDirector: Steven Spielberg
Brand: DreamWorks
Producer: Allison Lyon Segan
Producer: Bonnie Curtis
Producer: Gary Levinsohn
Producer: Ian Bryce
Producer: Kevin De La Noy
Producer: Mark Gordon
Writer: Robert Rodat
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 169 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-05-25
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
DVD Reviews of Saving Private Ryan (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: Great Movie, Not enough bonus material
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me start of with this, This movie is proibably my favorite and among the best war films ever made. I decided to write a review because many people were saying "this is not factual" and things of that nature so I just had to rebut. I'll get to that later though.
Anyway, the movie itself is great but in my opinion the bonus disc is pretty weak. It is interesting to see how the movie was made but I think they should have also thrown in a d-day documentary or two and things of that nature. It is, after all the 60th anniversay commemorative. In my opinion, there should be some d-day material there.
And now on to the long part, the bone I have to pick with other reviewers. If you are satisfied by what you have read you can stop now.
First, many people say the plot is cliched and unoriginal. Okay, many of the messages are cliched, i agree. However, all war movies have the same basic idea that this does. SPR does go into deeper issues, though. Throughout the movie we see the soldiers questioning their orders and acting more human than the "yes, sir" "no, sir" patriots we see in other films. We see something that is representative of the war in general. It covers D-Day and many of the events in the movie are representative of the Normandy campaign in general. Overall, I think this movie shows the soldiers in a different light than many movies do; it especially shows that they are citizen soldiers, regular men who are fighting a war. Now I also went through many reviews and found what people say is historically inaccurate and found that they really have no idea what they are saying. I quoted these reviews and made my own rebuttals.
A common thing I saw was that people think the idea of sending a squad to save one man wouldn't have happened and they are right. However, the point beyond that is that the movie is representative of the war and the soldiers, it doesn't necessarily show an event. I will say that if you want complete historical accuracy see Band of Brothers, it is made in much the same way but it is entirely nonfiction.
"The battle on the beach lasted 9 hours, not 20 minutes. You don't quite get a feeling for that one."- This is true, however, individual units were assigned individual objectives. This means that it is entirely plausible that Miller's company fulfilled their individual objective and, after all, this company is the focus of the film.
"While watching the stupid Krauts being mowed down by the dozen you keep asking yourself how they managed to conquer all of Europe in the first place."- By this time in the war the German army was severely depleted and had to resort to many reserves and conscripts. Not only that, but the soldiers that were left were battle-weary so while that may not be an excuse, it could account for some things.
" As a Captain, Tom Hanks' character would be a company commander, responsible for at least two platoons and far too busy to be assigned to such a capricious task with only five other men."- While the premise of a small unit flatheading through German lines to find a man is pretty farfetched, captains would be assigned to special duties that might entail commanding a 6-man squad on a special mission. Plus, near the beginning of the film, Miller is in command of a company.
"Regarding the German prisoner they released that many claim to have returned at the end. The solider released after the combat at the radar site was regular army - Deutsche Wehrmacht. Those solders fighting in the town at the end are SS. While lay people may not know the difference, there is a major difference. Some say he was "pressed into service" by the SS. Even if that were so, they certainly wouldn't have issued him a new uniform in the day or two that elapsed between his release and the town battle. One does not have the luxury of getting a fresh change of clothes in the middle of an ongoing battle. These were two different men."- Yes they were two different men, comparing the pictures of the German soldier who is freed and the man who stabs Mellish (which is what I'm assuming this is referring to), they are different. Plus, when the freed soldier recognizes Upham at the end he is wearing a Wehrmacht uniform, not an SS uniform.
"The biggest flaw here is that they try to take the beach without any air or sea cover. Any one who is well versed in war would tell you that if you try to take a beach without cover, you will suffer heavy casualities. No army would commit such a tactical error."+ There was a preliminary air and sea bombardment of the beaches. Unfortunately, especially at Omaha, most of the bombardment went off-target and didn't do as much damage on the German positions as on other beaches. It is completely realistic that there is no air and sea cover during the battle, and the Americans overran the beach without it.
"am tired of this one sided movies that portray the glories. The Germans lost a lot due to their own follies and things like the offensive against Russia, Barbarossa, cost them heavily due to the bitter cold. No one mentions this in the movies. Even when the German High Command asked Hitler to retreat, he would refuse to do so. That was his mistake. He had an uncanny way of sizing up his enemies and only in the end he overreached himself. I am glad that he lost, but it is due to a combination of circumstances. There were more Indians in British army who lost lives than Canadians or Australians. This is never mentioned in any movie. India lost close to 100000 people in WWII, but thanks to their color, they are not considered important. They served in British armies all over North Africa and Europe. They fought some of the fiercest battlest against Rommel."- This is all true but how it relates to the storyline in this film is beyond me.
"Unfortunately the WW II story of the average soldier is lost in the quote We gotta save a kid! end quote heart-warmer."- I beg to differ. The movie portrays Miller as less of an officer and more of a peer to the men which was often the case. Also, it shows the soldiers questioning their orders and talking and joking with each other. It shows soldiers in the war on a very personal level.
"Given the mission is find Pvt. Ryan why attack the machine gun nest? How did Tom Hanks know only 3-4 Germans were there and not 30? Why didn't TH just send his sniper to pick them off instead of doing a frontal assualt? Why was the medic charging the MG when he could have stayed behind?"- I do agree with this, that is a pretty baffling thing. This scene is definitely Hollywood.
"Tom Hanks walks around with stripes on his helmet (so snipers can easily tip him off- makes sense)..."- Most officers didn't put the stripes on their helmets for the reason of snipers and, if they did, they would put them on in black so they were more subdued. Keep in mind, though, that this is MOST officers, helmet markings were not uncommon.
"The casualty rate for the period (by far the worst that day at Omaha) was approx 11 1/2 percent, far fewer than one one asume from watching Pvt Ryan."- Yes, the worst casualties were at Omaha and, surprise! The opening scene takes place on Omaha. 11 ½ percent is for the entire allied force. The casualties on the other beaches were much more minimal.
"the Krauts are abandoning their bunker and, suddenly there is a Czech speech, which I recognized instantly and startlingly..., the supposedly Czech-speaking Wehrmacht soldier screams out, in Czech language : "I did not kill anybody, don't shoot me." The impact on me was immediate - the use of a language other than German (incomprehensible to US viewers, of course) is still the cheap Spielberg device to unnecesarilly magnify (and falsify) the Nazi brotherhood of nations going against "us"."- Yes the soldier is, in fact, Czech. Many people from across occupied Europe (including Czechoslovakia) either joined the German army or were conscripted into service. Further, it cannot be said that these soldiers are Nazis. The Wehrmacht was the army of Germany and most of the soldiers were fighting for their country; most of them were not Nazis.
Now, like any movie, the film does have historical inaccuracies but I really don't think I'll go into them now.
Thank you for tolerating my long review and letting me get that off my chest. To sum up this is a splendid movie but the bonus material is pretty average, that is the only thing I don't like. The movie itself is easily 5 stars.
Description of Saving Private Ryan (Two-Disc Special Edition)
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN D-DAY 60TH ANNIVE - DVD MovieWhen Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic--and maybe the best--war film ever. With 1998 production standards, Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war as hell. We are at Omaha Beach as troops are slaughtered by Germans yet overcome the almost insurmountable odds.
A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name: Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film its most memorable performance.
The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous. The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's the film Spielberg was destined to make. --Doug Thomas
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