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Saving Private Ryan (1998)

tomatometer

93

Average Rating: 8.3/10
Reviews Counted: 95
Fresh: 88 | Rotten: 7

Anchored by another winning performance from Hanks, Spielberg's unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre.

86

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 3

Anchored by another winning performance from Hanks, Spielberg's unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre.

audience

92

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 892,013

My Rating

Movie Info

Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath. The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. This mass slaughter of American soldiers is depicted in a compelling, unforgettable 24-minute

R,

Drama, Action & Adventure

Robert Rodat

Nov 2, 1999

Paramount Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (95) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (97) | Rotten (7) | DVD (47)

No further commentary is needed when the raw brutality of combat is presented as indelibly as it is here.

September 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comments (2)
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I found it tediously manipulative despite its Herculean energy.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comments (39)
New York Observer
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Why did Spielberg make it? He wants us to imagine we can feel the terror of being there, but does that make us any wiser about this or any other conflict? Probably not.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comments (30)
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The greatest Steven Spielberg movie since the last great one? Sure.

July 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comments (2)
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A powerful and impressive milestone in the realistic depiction of combat, Saving Private Ryan is as much an experience we live through as a film we watch on screen.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment (1)
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Saving Private Ryan is not a film that one takes pleasure in, or even enjoys in the usual sense, but rather, it's a movie that elicits a hushed admiration and an uneasy appreciation.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | Comments (2)
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Thanks to Hanks, and Spielberg's technical finesse, this develops into a powerful and potent portrayal of men at war, and those opening 20 minutes are worth the price of entry alone.

October 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment (1)
Film4

Bloody, tragic war epic doesn't hold back.

December 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment (1)
Common Sense Media

The back of the box calls is "the movie that helped the world to remember," but Saving Private Ryan still suffers from a forgettable second act.

May 10, 2010 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comments (2)
Slant Magazine

What, asks the film, is the worth of a single human soul? (Blu-ray Edition)

April 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment (1)
Movie Metropolis

It deserved all the honors it received, looks and sounds great on Blu-ray, and safely remains among the best war movies of all time.

April 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment (1)
Movie Metropolis

Saving Private Ryan set a new benchmark for realism in WWII films, and defined war movies for a generation. A film of scope and vision rarely experienced, its award-winning cinematography and sound editing helped convey the blood-chilling images of

February 17, 2010 Full Review Source: AskMen.com | Comment (1)
AskMen.com

Private Ryan resembles the director's other so-called mature efforts by putting a positive spin on unspeakable horrors.

August 21, 2009 Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | Comment (1)

Violent, harrowing, and horrific; you bet. This is not a movie to take your children to see, or even a date. And it's definitely not worth seeing alone. How the ratings board gave this movie an "R" rating is a mystery. Well, maybe not.

April 14, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comments (130)
ColeSmithey.com

I personally have never fought in a war before but I would go out on a limb and say that the first twenty minutes of the film may be the most realistic war scene I have seen.

January 2, 2009 | Comment (1)
BDK Reviews

It's forty minutes of steely violence and two hours of cliche-ridden flab.

August 18, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comments (45)
eFilmCritic.com

Saving Private Ryan is an incredible movie, a near-masterpiece.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment (1)
Combustible Celluloid

The opening 30 minutes are so devastating that much of what follows ends up feeling anticlimactic. Good, but overrated.

March 4, 2006 | Comments (3)
FulvueDrive-in.com

The movie epitomizes the paradox of all great filmmaking: It's a thrillingly violent war drama about an unbearably painful subject.

December 11, 2005 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment (1)
EmanuelLevy.Com

Audience Reviews for Saving Private Ryan

Deeply poignant.

Full review at themoviefreakblog.com
June 15, 2011
spielberg00

Super Reviewer

Technically exceptional and surprisingly unsentimental for Spielberg, this is a powerful and intense depiction of the brutality and horrors of war. A marvellous film that makes us deeply care about its characters and shows us that in war there is no honor, only death.
December 23, 2010
blacksheepboy

Super Reviewer

    1. Pvt. James Ryan: Picture a girl who just took a nosedive from the ugly tree and hit every branch coming down.
    – Submitted by Friso C (3 months ago)
    1. Sgt. Horvath: Maybe saving Private Ryan is the one decent thing we did in this war.
    – Submitted by Cody H (5 months ago)
    1. Cpl. Upham: So where you from, Captain? What did you do before the war?
    2. Capt. John Miller: What's the pool up to?
    3. Cpl. Upham: I think it's at 300.
    4. Capt. John Miller: I'll tell you what. When it gets to 500 then I'll tell you and we'll split it.
    5. Cpl. Upham: Well in that case, sir, as someone under your command, I would ask that we wait until it gets up 1000.
    6. Capt. John Miller: What if we don't live that long?
    7. Cpl. Upham: ...500?
    8. Capt. John Miller: 500.
    – Submitted by Cody H (5 months ago)
    1. Pvt. Mellish: He's good.
    2. Pvt. Caparzo: I love him.
    – Submitted by Cody H (5 months ago)
    1. Capt. John Miller: [struggling to speak]
    2. Pvt. James Ryan: Whats that sir?
    3. Capt. John Miller: [pulling Ryan closer] E-Earn this. Earn it.
    – Submitted by Giovanni R (6 months ago)
    1. Capt. John Miller: MAYBE YOU SHOULD SHUT UP!
    – Submitted by Conner W (7 months ago)

Discussion Forum

Topic Last Post Replies
Unacceptable Review 20 days ago 4

Latest News on Saving Private Ryan

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Hanks is heading back to World War II.

November 29, 2011:
Tom Hanks Goes In the Garden of Beasts
He'll produce and possibly star in an adaptation of the Erik Larson non-fiction bestseller about...

May 16, 2008:
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RT counts down the ten best-reviewed films directed by Indiana Jones helmer and modern moviemaking...

Foreign Titles

  • Der Soldat James Ryan (DE)
  • Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan (FR)
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