Saving Private Ryan

Almost three years exactly from starting the process, Alyssa and I have watched 30 movies of the top 100 with our viewing of "Saving Private Ryan" Saturday night. Yet another classic that Alyssa hadn't seen, and yet another movie that she has no interest in seeing again. I remember when the movie first came out there was a backlash about the intensity of the violence in it, though Spielberg defended it by saying he had intended to make it as realistic as possible. I understand and appreciate his claim, but there were definitely sections of action sequences that seemed gratuitous in the degree of violence shown onscreen. Unfortunately that led to Alyssa ignoring a large potion of the movie due to its graphic nature.
Fortunately for her there was also enough eye candy onscreen to keep her interested. Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi and other young actors of the time were scattered throughout, not to mention Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti. The amount of talent featured was impressive. There are some really well done parts, simple and elegant, the reaction of Ryan's squad when Private Ryan is told of the loss of his three brothers, and Ryan's monologue on what to tell his mother if he also dies. The brotherhood among these men that led Spielberg and Hanks to go on to produce "Band of Brothers" is pretty obvious here as well.