When I first saw this film at the cinema I was, like everyone else in the world, blown away by the opening scenes and then mostly entranced by what followed. Upon re-watching it these years later, the overall effect has been lessened by familiarity and, possibly, by being Speilberged out after watching Munich last week! The battle scenes are still excellent visceral, terrifying and all too real conveying the calamitous confusion of war in a way seldom matched in the movies. When the action slows down, so does the film, and this often leaves you feeling a little disinterested as the characters lack of back-story and overly obvious attempts at making them look good (Woo! I've saved a child! Boo! I've been shot!) seem to jar with the realism attained elsewhere. It's still a cracking film though, and the weaker bits have actually stood up better than the strong bits in my opinion (although maybe I'm just more tolerant of schmaltz as I get older).
Review of Saving Private Ryan
