Saving Private Ryan

The opening on Omaha Beach is one of those sequences where you forget you're watching a movie. It just grabs you by the collar and doesn't let go. Gold. Absolute gold. I went in expecting a war movie and got something that punched way above that.

Tom Hanks is perfect here. Not good, not great, perfect. He's the exact guy this role needed, and he delivers every second of it.

I went in expecting a war movie and got something that punched way above that.

The whole cast, honestly. Top to bottom. You could feel the tension crackling between Matt Damon and Hanks in a way that didn't feel like acting; it felt like two guys who actually had something at stake with each other.

The landing on Omaha. I already said it but I'll say it again. The graphic stuff isn't there for shock; it's there because that's what it was. And the sequence where they take down the machine gun nest? Tense, ugly, and real. The whole movie has that texture. It seemed real. All of it.

I caught this with friends and the theater absolutely made it better. Some movies you can throw on at home and they hit the same. This isn't one of them. The scale demands a big room and a loud sound system.

This one stuck with me after the credits rolled, and I think it's going to keep sticking. I'd watch it again tomorrow. A superb movie, full stop.

Just wow.