RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
90 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:91

Fresh:82

Rotten:9

Average Rating:8.1/10

Consensus: Anchored by another winning performance from Hanks, Spielberg's unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre.

Runtime: 2 hrs 49 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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. [More]

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, Edward Burns

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, Harve Presnell, Bryan Cranston

Director: Steven Spielberg

Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Robert Rodat
Producer: Steven Spielberg, Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn
Composer: John Williams

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Saving Private Ryan

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
81 - 94 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

With Private Ryan the object is to put you in a place no sane person would choose to go. And it does.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Oz
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

A flawed but masterful film.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Brunette
Peter Brunette
Film.com

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.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It is the battle scenes, which burn in your mind for days afterwards, that distinguish this film.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Has 'masterpiece' written all over it.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Robert Horton
Robert Horton
Film.com

A powerful experience.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Saving Private Ryan may be the most mature war film ever made.

Full Review Source: Scott Renshaw's Screening Room | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
Scott Renshaw
Scott Renshaw
Scott Renshaw's Screening Room

An experience sometimes hard to endure but not to be missed.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

As compelling, intimate and brutally realistic an account of men at war as you’ve ever seen.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News

Gripping and satisfying in a way that no mere summer event movie could ever be.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Ted Fry
Ted Fry
Film.com

Spielberg has done and said a lot more about war in this film than any other film in history ever has.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ted Prigge
Ted Prigge
rec.arts.movies.reviews

What ultimately sets Saving Private Ryan apart from its golden age lineage, however, is its unflinchingly brutal depiction of the horrors of war as seen from a foot soldier's perspective.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Wade Major
Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine

This picture attempts to bring about a fuller understanding of sacrifice on the battlefield and in that respect it is a moving and dignified salute to the fallen.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Wallace Baine
Wallace Baine
rec.arts.movies.reviews

The word that springs to mind is 'intense', but that is an understating insult.

Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Widgett Walls
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com
 
 
81 - 94 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5
all

Latest News for Saving Private Ryan

May 16, 2008: Steven Spielberg's Ten Best-Directed Films
RT counts down the ten best-reviewed films directed by Indiana Jones helmer and modern moviemaking legend, Steven Spielberg. More...

June 22, 2007: AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...

December 12, 2005: Paramount Buys Itself a Christmas Present: DreamWorks Pictures
Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DreamWorks SKG for $1.6 billion in cash and assumption of debt. The deal brings Paramount... More...

August 11, 2005: Critical Consensus: Brotherly Love, A Not So Great “Raid,” A Skeletal “Key,” and Schneider’s Latest
This week at the movies gives us four brothers with vigilante justice on their minds, a woman who discovers the frightening secrets of an old house on the bayou, a band of... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
18
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
126
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
181
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
90
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
63
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
62
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
61
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
44
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
38
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
22
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
6
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Saving Private Ryan at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Saving Private Ryan at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.