Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26947 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-09-01
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: Czech, English, French, German
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 162 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Since its release in 1998, Steven Spielberg's D-Day drama Saving Private Ryan has become hugely influential: everything from the opening sequence of Gladiator ("Saving Marcus Aurelius") to the marvellous 10-hour TV series Band of Brothers has been made in its shadow. There have been many previous attempts to recreate the D-Day landings on screen (notably, the epic The Longest Day), but thanks to Spielberg's freewheeling hand-held camerawork, Ryan was the first time an audience really felt like they were there, storming up Omaha Beach in the face of withering enemy fire.

After the indelible opening sequence, however, the film is not without problems. The story, though based on an American Civil War incident, feels like it was concocted simply to fuel Spielberg's sentimental streak. In standard Hollywood fashion the Germans remain a faceless foe (with the exception of one charmless character who turns out to be both a coward and a turncoat); and the platoon, led by Tom Hanks, consists of far too many stereotypes: the doughty sergeant; the thick-necked private; the southern-man religious sniper; the cowardly corporal. Matt Damon seems improbably clean cut as the titular private in need of rescue (though that may well be the point); and why do they all run straight up that hill towards an enemy machine-gun post anyway?

Some non-US critics have complained that Ryan portrays only the American D-Day experience, but it is an American film made and financed by Americans after all. Accepting both its relatively narrow remit and its lachrymose inclinations, Saving Private Ryan deserves its place in the pantheon of great war pictures.

On the DVD: This DTS edition of Saving Private Ryan presents the movie with astonishingly vivid surround sound that is audibly superior to the standard Dolby Digital version. With a wider dynamic range and a more spacious soundfield, the battles really do spill over into your living room. There are new animated menus but because the DTS data stream requires greater space on the disc, the 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary included on the previous release is omitted. --Mark Walker

Special Features
English
Region 2
DTS English
DTS

Synopsis
Director Steven Spielberg's World War II tour de force chronicles the journey of a GI squad on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), the unit is under orders to track down a soldier, Private Ryan (Matt Damon), so he might return home to his mother in America, where she is grieving the unimaginable loss of her three other sons to the war. The first unforgettable 20 minutes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN realistically and horrifically depicts the Normandy invasion as Miller. his second-in-command, Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), and the others in the unit land at Omaha Beach. Before the film began shooting, Hanks and the actors in his squad went through a one-week boot camp in the woods. All the actors, except Hanks, wanted to quit, but Hanks rallied their spirits by reminding them of the incredible tribulations endured by the real veterans of World War II. Production designer Tom Sanders found a beach in Ireland that perfectly matched the landscape of Normandy's. Spielberg gave great credit to the Irish army who helped re-create the Omaha Beach scenes.

Customer Reviews

amazing film.
i love this film but i cant help wondering how unrealistic it sounds. why would they go looking for ne man who is already belived to be dead? but never the less absolutly amazing must see movie.

easily one of the best war films ever made.
one of my favorite films ever made. hanks is amazing. the opening scene is amazing. the music is amazing. the plot is believable and the end battle is AWESOME.

Overrated
This lengthy film is one of the most boring I've ever seen. I really can't understand why so many people love it. It's not enough for a film to have realistic scenes such as the all too many and way too long battle sequences in "Saving Private Ryan" Speiberg certainly failed to entertain me, though I'm sure he entertained himself, which should not be the object of the excercise.