Starring: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Giovanni Ribisi
After finding Dunkirk and 1917 a bit cheesy, I thought I’d find Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan a similar experience. Actually, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Tom Hanks is one of my favourite actors, and I thought he did a really good job in his role in this 90s film about WW2.
His character in Saving Private Ryan is an army captain in the Second World War, who has been tasked to find one single soldier who could be anywhere in the world: Private Ryan. All three of Ryan’s brothers have been killed in action, and, to lessen the burden on the boys’ mother, Ryan is to be brought home from the war in case he gets killed too. Captain Miller is ordered to round up a small group of experienced soldiers to trek the world looking for Private Ryan.
Loosely based on a true story, I thought this film did well at creating atmospheres of suspense and sadness while still retaining the gruesomeness of those tense battle scenes. That said, this sort of genre isn’t one of my favourite types to watch, and I think I’ll settle for 3 stars out of 5 for this one.
