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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Saving Private Ryan
DreamWorks Distribution


8.3

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 100 votes
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Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence, and for language

Starring Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, and Matt Damon

During the WWII D-Day invasion, a squad of soldiers led by Captain John Miller (Hanks) is sent into Normandy to find Private James Ryan (Damon), and return him to his mother in America. She has already lost three other sons in this war.

GENRE(S):	War
WRITTEN BY:	Robert Rodat
DIRECTED BY:	Steven Spielberg
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 2, 1999 Video: November 2, 1999 Theatrical: July 24, 1998
RUNNING TIME:	170 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

TNT RoughCut Andy Jones

Spectacular, wrenching masterpiece that unflinchingly documents the random horror, the grisly spectacle and the ugliness of war.

100

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

The effect is riveting and frightening. You feel you are under siege with the combatants.

100

Variety Todd McCarthy

A searingly visceral combat picture, Steven Spielberg’s third World War II drama is arguably second to none as a vivid, realistic and bloody portrait of armed conflict.

100

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Steven Spielberg's best war film -- and one of the two or three best movies the director has made.

100

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Searing, heartbreaking, so intense it turns your body into a single tube of clenched muscle, this is simply the greatest war movie ever made, and one of the great American movies.

100

USA Today Mike Clark

The rawest, most sustained screen portrayal of 20th century combat.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A watershed picture, for both Spielberg and war movies.

100

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

No Hollywood film within recent memory has achieved such richness and originality of texture, such a compelling amalgam of passionate human drama and awesome technique.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

One of the best films ever made in this country, filled with our proudest national virtues, cognizant of our deeply rooted human weaknesses and frighteningly able to evoke emotions.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

An overwhelming experience.

100

Time Richard Schickel

A war film that, entirely aware of its genre's conventions, transcends them as it transcends the simplistic moralities that inform its predecessors, to take the high, morally haunting ground.

100

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Steven Spielberg's soberly magnificent new war film, the second such pinnacle in a career of magical versatility, has been made in the same spirit of urgent communication. It is the ultimate devastating letter home.

100

Film.com Ted Fry

In striving to duplicate reality, Spielberg has gone reality one better -- he's playing war, but it's a game no one would ever willingly join in.

100

Dallas Observer Peter Rainer

He (Spielberg) commemorates the soldiers in that vast Normandy cemetery in the most absolute and honorable way possible.

100

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

An excellent movie, as effective in battle scenes as it is in that of soldiers ruminating on an Edith Piaf song.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A movie of staggering virtuosity and raw lyric power, a masterpiece of terror, chaos, blood, and courage.

100

New York Post Rod Dreher

A film of such cyclonic visual and emotional power, of such dazzling virtuosity and shattering humanity, that it is difficult to endure, yet alone describe. Savagely beautiful and savagely true, Saving Private Ryan is an excruciating masterpiece.

100

ReelViews James Berardinelli

For those who are willing to brave the movie's shocking and unforgettable images, Saving Private Ryan offers a singular motion picture experience.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This film embodies ideas. After the immediate experience begins to fade, the implications remain and grow.

Slate David Edelstein

What Steven Spielberg has accomplished in Saving Private Ryan is to make violence terrible again.

Film.com Robert Horton

A magnificent piece of movie-making.

Film.com John Hartl

Feels like the first truly honest attempt to deal with the horrors of combat - and the terrible responsibility shared by all survivors.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A bitter, bloody masterpiece with adrenalized emotions and hyper-realized images, this is perhaps as close to battle as any sane human being should ever hope to tread.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The movie's greatest strength lies in phenomenal performances that reach from the leads right down to the smallest supporting roles.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

If Steven Spielberg's emotional intelligence matched his visual genius, his honorably flawed new film might qualify for one of the greatest-ever American WWII movies.

Newsweek David Ansen

Raises Hollywood's depiction of war to a new level.

Film.com Peter Brunette

An exceptionally intense movie whose sheer filmmaking power ultimately transcends all its (many) limitations.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Its relatively minor imperfections seem more glaring when compared to the near flawlessness of the film's lyrical, scorching start.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A startling reminder of exactly how spectacular a director Spielberg can be when he allows himself to be challenged by a subject (in this case World War II) that pushes against his limits.

Salon.com Gary Kamiya

Using the overpowering techniques of modern film, Steven Spielberg has cut through the glory-tinged gauze that shrouds World War II to reveal its brutal reality, creating a phenomenology of violence unsurpassed in the history of cinema.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Steven Spielberg's new film begins as a monumental epic; then it diminishes; and, by its finish, is baffling. [August 24, 1998]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

A horror movie based on history, offering some of the most spectacularly brutal, viscerally intense battle scenes ever brought to a Hollywood movie.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The story raises hard moral questions relating to the relative value of human lives and the overwhelming debt that may be felt by those who benefit when others sacrifice. But the movie falls short of excellence because it doesn't so much explore these issues as finesse them in an action-filled climax.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Nothing that suggests an independent vision, unless you count seeing more limbs blown off than usual.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 100 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jag gave it a10:
Rarely do I give anything a ten but this movie was simply outstanding. the character development was perfect for everyone. I hate it when people dog this movie because they didn't pay attention to what was important. I also hate it when people put this movie down because they think it is to Hollywood like.This movie is not like the others they didn't make it silly they got it right. This shows you how terrible war can be and you forget those men that sacrificed everything for us and their buddies any time soon after seeing this movie. A lot of good men die and tell it how it was. I do admit that there was some stuff thrown in there that I wish that they wouldn't have but that probably won't bug many others. This movie can be watched over and over and you'll always find something new to think about. This movie is good even if you don't like war movies. This movie is one that every American should see.

Android gave it a10:
One of Spielberg's greatest movies! The script is amazing and the the acting is great, also one of Tom Hanks' greatest movies. The violence, action and tragedy in the movie really bring out the realism of the war. I would certainly recommend this movie to anyone that can handle some graphic, painful, bloody action.

Tim S. gave it a0:
This movie only appeals to those who have absolutely no knowledge of history. It's absolute garbage. Historically inaccurate, Spielberg bullcrap which makes Germans look like stupid, cowardly, deceptive, inhuman animals. They may have been America's enemies but they certainly weren't unskilled fighters with no hearts. They were normal soldiers doing their duty who talked and laughed just like the American soldiers. The movie is just more Hollywood propaganda to make all Germans look evil. If you REALLY want to know why and how Spielberg does this, search "Saving Private Ryan review by Michael A Hoffman II" in google, go to the first link and then to the bottom of the page where it will have a link to his review. This review points out everything that I'm talking about. This is simply a movie for entertainment and doesn't help history just like every other war movie coming out of Hollywood! Don't people get tired of this same kind of garbage?

Jared C. gave it a10:
It takes courage and a well crafted script to pass a movie. But this is something that takes war movies to another level. And I hope to see an amount of continuess war film's exeptionally after this.

[Anonymous] gave it a3:
Just another over-romanticized film from Hollywood. I've even heard this film being regarded as a "documentary" despite the fact that it's a fictional story which is still inaccurate still and made too "Hollywood". Of course, your average viewer with an average (read: very limited) knowledge on WWII might find this film quite good, so be it. The only part I liked was the beginning which I will admit is pretty spot on on how war is like. Anyway, nothing new coming from Hollywood, good light on Americans, bad light on everybody else; winners write history sort of thing, etc. All in all another overrated move, IMO. I mean movies like these are just too one sided, a side I myself am getting tired of seeing everyday. Once you get tired of this stuff like me, check out Das Boot or Downfall or Letters from Iwo Jima or even Platoon for a nice change.

Gerrick C. gave it a10:
Few movies can capture the terrors and carnage or war. Few movies can convey what exactly our men went through during these times. Saving Private Ryan is not only one of those few movies, but perhaps the only war movie that captures the intensity and brutality of war. This is a must-see for any war or war movie buff, and anyone in between must see it also.

L W gave it a10:
I'm not much for war movies, I tend to be squeamish, and I'm easily put off by the rah rah glory scenes, but this movie was amazing. Real, raw, and an absolute masterpiece.

Saving Private Ryan DreamWorks Distribution

Saving Private Ryan
DreamWorks Distribution