4/5 stars

The movie magic world needs to do us all a favor and keep casting Tom Hanks in just about every movie. Okay, dramatic, but coming from someone who doesn’t watch movies too often, I was absolutely loving the cinematography and musical score of this amazing movie about the perils of war.

The movie begins somber and then progresses to men being shot and killed on the war front. The movie doesn’t really ease you into anything, so be prepared to feel a range of emotions within seconds of each other. If you feel squeamish about seeing people shot, you should probably just skip over a fair amount of this movie, because it lasts 27 minutes.

Saving Private Ryan is based on the invasion of Normandy in World War II.  It follows the United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) and his troops as they go in search for their other troop member, Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) who is the last-surviving brother of four servicemen.

The movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a masterpiece among war movies, and trust me, even though I haven’t seen a ton of movies, war movies have always been something that I was raised on.

Thanks Dad. The first 27 minutes feel like actual warfare and I had to turn the sound down because the yelling and screaming of people being shot almost became a little too much.

I’m not saying it because I can’t handle violence. I am because there is just no way that you can’t be affected somehow by a long period of gunshots and death. The fact that it kept my attention for that long showed Spielberg knew what he was doing.

The writing and acting made it easy for me to follow what was going on, because let’s be honest, I know nothing about the technicality of war. It’s lost on me, but for once I could really grasp what was going on and why it was so important.

One thing that really bugged me was how perfect everyone looked almost all of the time. Regardless if they were shot or it was pouring rain, the actors always looked like they could get up and live another day. And that’s not really what I was looking for in a war movie.

You’re not going to look like a perfect human in the middle of battle and sometimes that fake dirt was placed just a little too well on their costumes. Picky? Probably, but sometimes there is a fine balance between real life and reel life and being able to tell the difference can make or break a movies credibility.

Overall, this movie and the emotions that it lead me through were captivating and astonishing. I don’t think I have seen a movie so well thought out in a while. This is a piece that captures the heart and soul of war and I hope that it really does justice to those who have served now and then.