Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan. There are many war films that manage realism and visual violence. But no war movie has managed the coldness, surrealism and brutality in combination with different narrative perspectives so well. The seemingly endless opening scene showing the madness of D-Day is unique. And this seamless transition at the end, which picks up on the long-forgotten grave scene from the beginning and brings the movie to a perfect emotional close with this mini-plot twist, is brilliant. The mission itself is just as crazy as the war itself. But it's not just the direction, pacing and acting that were superbly realized, the sheer visual power is not neglected either. The special thing here is that it doesn't carry the movie, as is the case with many other films, but only contributes to making this movie absolutely worth seeing. Many high-budget war films rely on the sheer madness of war to carry the movie and leave storyline, character depth and pacing to one side. That's not the case with this movie and I think it stands out. However, I think this classic scenario of the underdog who could give up his position and flee, but decides against it and fights, feels a bit uncreative. I'm not a big fan of war movies, but this one packs a punch.