Saving Private Ryan (Single-Disc Special Limited Edition)

Saving Pvt. Ryan was the best picture of the year hands down. Anytime someone takes a much traveled genre like the war movie, and reinvents and reinvigorates it while raising the bar for future films it is exceptional. Spielberg did that here. No one has ever depicted combat quite so effectively, and Pvt. Ryan is now the standard. Even the negative reviewers concede the Omaha Beach opening is stunning and excellent. But, I think the assault on the machine gun and the closing! battle just as intense and vivid.Pro War? Please. I don't think Spielberg's purpose was to be pro OR anti-war. I think his purpose was to honor the sacrifice of the men who fought the war. Period. But within that context, I think the death of Wayne (the Medic) is as horrifying in its unexceptionalness as anything I've seen on screen. This is war, overdosing with morphine a friend who is bleeding to death with a shredded liver. Just like that. And Mellish's hand to hand fight and vain attempt at stopping his own killing after being overpowered...this is pro-War stuff? Not to mention, that at the end of the movie nearly everyone in the squad has been killed.The idea that Spielberg was glorifying Americans at the expense of everyone else is nonsense. This movie wasn't about Stalingrad & the Eastern Front. It wasn't about the entire operation of Overlord. It wasn't about the entire scope of the Allied effort. It was about one squad of Rangers landing on Omaha and !then getting a strange assignment. Period.That such a mission never happened? So what? That there was no plot? That IS the plot. The mission. Works for me.One quick comment about the idea of cliched characters etc. Who do these people think fought the war? It was wise guys from NY, hillbillies from W. Virginia, hispanics from S.California, southerners, hobos, college men etc. How in hell else are you supposed to show them? AND, the military of WWII was not integrated, in case you didn't know.As to the reality of the ending battle. First, when the Sgt. says "something good coming from this mess" I don't think he meant all of WWII. I think he meant the mess of this mission and the men they had lost now & everywhere. Second, the Germans are attacking the town, Miller & the Airborne defending. Door-to-door street fighting is the most casualty-intensive fighting possible, and the advantage is usually always with the defenders. That's why soldiers hate it. S!o they had a chance and they had a plan....ultimately to retreat & blow the bridge. If you think this is too far fetched, you should read Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers etc. and find out just how incredible small unit actions have been. Many are unbelievable.And what were Miller & his squad to do when Ryan refused to leave? Say "tough luck 101st, we're outta here". Maybe. But I think they would have stayed & fought. Just read about the Rangers who scaled the cliffs on D-Day. Courage was a common currency in those days.As to the acting, characters etc. I thought they were fine. There were no false heroics to my mind. I believe they wanted to honor these men and they played it straight. Hanks was believable to me portraying a school teacher who is now a leader of men and his scene where he does the awful math of the men he's lost and the rationale he uses to live with the fact says it all. He seemed to me an average man having to do impossible, horrible things and wo!ndering what it is doing to him.The movie is about suiting-up, showing-up and getting-on-with-it. It is about the everyday heroism of doing the dirty job and trying to survive.Was the movie flawless? No. I would have had Ryan tell a better story to Miller than the somewhat stupid and cruel one he told. And, for that fact I didn't get the point of Wayne's story about his mother. The German shooting Miller and Upham shooting the German was somewhat problematic (emotionally satisfying, but empty. If the lesson is mercy will get you killed, by that logic, he should have shot them all)....but these are minor quibbles in a great effort.What about Spielberg? Spielberg is a brilliant and clever director. Too clever? Sometimes. But I liked most of his touches and flourishes. I liked the sniper seeing the other sniper shooting at him. I like the wall coming down & the standoff. I liked the tank rolling up on Miller blowing up by a seeming gunshot. I didn't mind !the bit of deception at the opening & closing of the film because by the time it ended I was moved by the sentiment. I thought the opening & closing battles were magnificent. I like his compositions. I thought all the combat throughout had a genuine feel never depicted as accurately before. His camerawork & direction was continuously inventive. I thought death was shown without glamor. The courage as that mustered up and brought to bear by ordinary men. Enough.I could go on, but what's the point? If you are nitpicking this movie you have missed the experience. And it WAS an experience (especially on the big screen) that was exceptional for eye, ear and emotions. If you were not moved, so be it. I found it a beautiful tribute to the fathers and grandfathers who did what they had to do. And it came as close as anyone has been able to convey to an audience the horrors they had to endure.It isn't a documentary, and it isn't a history. It's a movie. But a first rate! movie in all departments.

I picked up the Sapphire BR SPR a month ago and finally got around to watching & hearing it. First I still have the DVD DTS version so I was currious as to the upgrade in the video but also how the two audio tracks compared; DTS vs DTS-HD.The video transfer is an excellent upgrade over the DVD though it still retains some of that so-called documentry grainess in some areas as it was intended. The colors are as they should be in the pallete of War....greens, browns, greys, blacks and yes red. It's going to make you say...Wow in the sense like seeing Monsters,Inc or Avatar. But the details throughout in uniforms, buildings, people, weapons brings the realism of war closer than ever. Probably too close especially in the famous "Beach Scene" where the reality of what rel war probably was with body parts flying and exposed.The audio portion didn't disappoint and frankly will rock your house and senses. There are many forums and topics that are always asking,"What Blu-ray to show off your HT" and about every poll and answer will have Saving Private Ryan on that list.Even when it came out on DVD with the DTS format it was considered one of if not the best sounding movie to make use of you HT sound. The new DTS-HD track does deliver a more fuller and open sound than the normal DTS track which is no slouch itself. To me it was like comparing D.D 5.1 to DTS 7.1. I felt I could detect just more sounds in the lower and higher fequencies with just better details. The first 20-25 minutes of the movie is a must for audio fans.The movie itself is flat out good but it's no typical war movie like Patton, Battle of the Buldge, Tora-Tora-Tora or Midway. While those were of historical happenings they didn't deal with the real brutality and emotions of what War can bring. In Saving Private Ryan you see and feel it and it hits you squarely between the eyes. If no-one comes away with some gut check, heart wrentching, or a slight tear in the first 25 minutes of this movie they're either dead or comatose.Tom Hanks as Capt. John Miller, is given orders to go deep and locate one Private Ryan and bring him back when it's learned three of his brothers were all killed in one week. During their mission they encounter others caught up with war itself, the uncertainity and just trying to survive. They lose a few of their own while seeing the effects on both soldiers and cilvans. While the Beach Scene is as emotional as you can see the one with Wade the medic getting shot is just gut wrentching. Laying bleeding from several bullets the entire groupsitting around Wade, is scrabbling to plug the holes and stop the blood flow while asking Wade for directions on what to do. You can sense their hope fading and helplessness as their friend crys out for his Moma and doesn't want to die for several minutes which seems longer.They finally find someone who knows Ryan and about where he is. After locating Ryan and giving him the news they expect he'll follow but Ryan refuses saying he has orders to protect one of two bridges left and his current platton buddies are now "his only brothers". Facing lack of ammo, soldiers and against all odds, Miller (Hanks) takes control and decides on protecting the bridge. The ensuing Last Stand of the Alamo type battle in the town is close and brutal with several losing their lives in the process. Miller, always keeping Ryan out of harms way is shot while trying to retrive the detonator for the bridge. At the last minute everyone is saved by a pair of P-51's along with reinforcements. Hanks wound is fatal but not before telling Ryan,"earn this...Earn It". As the film returns as it did in the beginning the older Ryan asks his wife has he led a good life and been a good man while standing in front of Capt. Millers tombstone.It's hard to imagine those saying anything bad about this movie are calling it "over-rated". They probably have a negative outlook on anything military and war itself as it's a waste of money first and lives second. While it was a movie veterans praised the film as the most realastic depiction of war especially the Normandy landing. Truely they were America's Best Generation but so sad todays doesn't appreciate them or their sacrifice.