Saving Private Ryan: A

Steven Speilberg is a legend in terms of visual style. He can make a movie into poetry, not an easy thing to do, plus he has a mighty keen little knack for picking good scripts for great movies. In "Saving Private Ryan" Spielberg ascends gracefully, drenched in blood tears, to recieve the title of our generations poet of war. This film explores the hair-trigger split-second mode of combat, the extreme and unpredictable time tables for death, and the subtle brotherhood between men. What starts out on D-Day at Normandy, in a pure visceral rush we see a whole platoon of men slaughtered before they even touch the beach, moves both beyond the beach and into the men's heads as they search for Private Ryan (Matt Damon) to bring him home: his three brothers have all been killed. The movie is arguably a work of one of the best ensembles of the 90's (including both Paul Giamatti and Vin Diesel) and a masterpiece of lyrical life-and-death struggles both mentally and physically. This movie is both happy and sad, an emotional roller coaster for anyone, and will touch you and many different levels. When people called this movie the "best war movie ever made" they were right.