A lot has been said about the opening battle sequence in this movie, and when I went to see Private Ryan at the cinema I thought I was prepared - after all, I have enjoyed watching a lot of films that contain a lot of violence and it has never really phased me. Wrong! I think Spielberg has captured the essence of large-scale conventional warfare at it's most real, short of actually being there. After the initial fight scene subsided I had to remind myself to breathe. And no, I don't think the violence is at all gratuitous - WWII resulted in the deaths of some 20-25 million soldiers and that's how it is. To soften the blow on the audience would be insulting and patronising. Anyway, the cast acts its way through the film flawlessly and I really felt for each and every GI that featured (the Germans are rather faceless, with one exception). Again, the battle at the end was grueling to watch and I didn't feel its impact was diminished by having sat through the first one. The opening and closing scenes with the old veteran some may find a bit sentimental flag-waving, and the comments about Montgomery were a bit grating (I'm English by the way), but the film is supposed to be from the viewpoint of one squad not a history textbook, so I can forgive that. Overall, one of THE best war films ever made and technically, I think, one of the best shot and directed movies ever.