A Super Villain And Masterminded Heists

Thieves Steal Enormous Million Dollar Coin Before Meeting A Bad End

Berlin (CP) A brazen heist caught the world’s attention in recent days after a million dollar coin, minted by the Royal Canadian Mint as one of six in 2007, was stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin, Germany. The coin, on display at the museum since 2010, was taken in the early hours of March 27^th, a challenge, given that the coin weighs 100 kilograms. Reportedly as near to pure gold as it gets, the coin had a real value of four million American dollars.

Officials at the Bode were baffled by the theft, and characteristically close lipped about answering questions from the press about the burglary. Rumours out of the museum suggest blame is being placed on a sleepy guard, nicknamed Big Jurgen, on duty the night of the burglary. A police official, speaking on anonymity, confirmed that the guard had been found curled up in his office snoring by his relief the following morning. “While it’s true that a guard might not have been able to do anything to stop a determined thief or thieves, it doesn’t look good when your overnight guard is snoozing during a major robbery.”

In the days following the theft, law enforcement agencies across the globe pursued leads. There were grave fears that the coin had already been melted down into new gold bars. Memes were mounted on the internet featuring Homer Simpson trying to use the coin in a vending machine.

Suspects came to light. Three individuals who bear a striking resemblance to major Hollywood actors, and who have been suspected in heists for years, denied having anything to do with the operation. “Rusty and Linus and I were in Sydney, which the police have already confirmed when they asked,” scoundrel and former convict Danny Ocean claimed when found by reporters at his residence in upper New York state. “By the way, purely hypothetically speaking, if any of us had wanted to pull a job, we’d have wanted a bigger payoff than four million dollars.”

And yet the thieves eluded the long arm of the law. German authorities underwent a massive manhunt and investigation not seen in the country since David Hasselhoff disappeared while on a bender three years ago (for some reason Germans love Hasselhoff, which strikes the outsider as peculiar).

Four days after the theft, the mastermind behind the theft revealed himself to the world via social media in a video across multiple platforms. First appearing in silhouette in a dark room, the man was silent for several seconds as the video began, and then started to speak, a hint of high cultured German in his voice. “Ladies and gentlemen of the world, you have seen my latest endeavour. I, with the aid of my henchmen, masterminded the theft of the million dollar coin from the Bode. Only a mind of sheer criminal genius like mine could have brought it all together. Only I, Magnus Von Malice, could do it.”

Von Malice, for those who might not be aware, is the nefarious mad scientist and super-villain who escaped from prison in Canada last year. Von Malice is most noted for his temporal experiments that brought several washed up celebrities back from the dead some time back, and had been imprisoned since being brought down by the world’s most feared (and cranky) lawman, the legendary RCMP Inspector Lars Ulrich. He’s been in hiding ever since his escape, one step ahead of the law.

After his revelation, the lights came up around the mad scientist on the video, and Von Malice smiled in that malevolent way that might make one think he was walking over your grave. “It could only be done by someone of the most devastating sinister mindset, stealing this coin. And it is the first step in my master plan of world domination. You will all bow before the magnificence that is Magnus Von Malice!” The video went on for another thirty five minutes of self absorbed nonsense and bragging, leaving one wondering why super-villains were so fond of endless monologues, before ending with a threat about melting down the gold unless his demands were met, including ten trillion dollars in unmarked bills, the nation of France handed over to him post haste, and a nuclear bomb “so I can destroy Mars!” He gave the world one week to carry out his demands.

While the President of France publicly mused about handing over the keys of the country to Von Malice, thus carrying on a national tradition of knuckling under and running away from a fight, other world leaders had different reactions to the crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin shrugged. “You know, Magnus, he is not, how do you say, bad guy? He’s just misunderstood. You know, a man gets ambitious and starts threatening everyone around him, and before he knows it, everyone thinks he’s the villain.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May, busy blowing up the country’s relations with the rest of Europe, paused to comment. “You know, it might have been nice of Cameron and that buffoon Boris Johnson to stick around and deal with the consequences of their little referendum, but that would be expecting too much of them. Now we’ve got a super-villain who’s threatening the world and stealing valuable coins? At least he didn’t steal the Crown Jewels. Wait, don’t quote me on that, it might give the jackass an idea or two.”

Former London mayor and ex-Member of Parliament Boris Johnson, the aforementioned buffoon, who was a strong advocate for Brexit, was busy tumbling down a staircase near the Thames when reporters told him about May calling him a buffoon. “That’s an outrage!” the dimwitted buffoon said. “Why, it makes me want to.... whooooaaaaa!” He was cut off, falling backwards and rolling down the stairs, breaking five ribs and an arm before he hit the bottom. In between wails of agony that suggest he doesn’t tolerate pain very well, Johnson called out, “Um, a little help?”

In the Oval Office, the President tweeted, “Fake news shaming Magnus Von Malice! Sad!” It was followed by seventeen other tweets extolling the mad scientist’s golf game, suggesting Von Malice be given the Nobel Peace Prize, and blaming Paul Ryan for the whole affair.

The German chancellor, meanwhile, recommended bringing in some outside help, and so a discreet call was made to her counterpart in Canada, who readily agreed to the request. The aforementioned cranky Mountie was sent overseas to aid in the investigation, given his previous experience with the villain. Within twenty four hours, Lars Ulrich had succeeded in tracking down Von Malice to his secret hidden lair in the Bavarian Alps, engaging each of his forty eight henchmen in hand to hand combat, leaving them weeping, bloody, and battered. German officers came in his wake to cuff suspects and bring in paramedics.

The super-villain himself got the worst of it, cornered by Ulrich, cut off from his Death Ray device. According to German officers who witnessed the confrontation, the super-villain, trying desperately to find some way to escape (despite having a granite wall at his back and a grouchy Mountie advancing at him), muttered, “why can’t you just spend all your time playing the drums and leave me alone?”

“I am not that Lars Ulrich,” the Mountie declared, delivering a punch that knocked Von Malice into the wall, followed by a thrashing that left him with broken ribs, fractured arms and legs, and a battered face. As well as the removal by yanking of the villain’s Van Dyke beard. Von Malice and his minions have all been charged with criminal conspiracy, theft, fraud, extortion, and dozens of other charges. They are now in custody awaiting trial.

The coin has been recovered and will be returned back to the museum as soon as possible. Von Malice, under police guard in hospital and confined to a body cast, spoke to this reporter after negotiations with German prosecutors and his attorney. His voice suggesting he was in terrible pain, the super-villain managed to mutter, “No matter how long it takes... no matter how many things I have to do to make this happen, no matter who I have to stomp on to get it done... I swear before all I hold sacred and despicable... that I’m going to kill Lars Ulrich.”

We finish with the reaction of two Lars Ulrichs to the threat. The Metallica drummer, deafened by decades of bad living and loud noise, read the statement when reporters found him at his California mansion. He looked up from the printed page, seeming confused. “Look, I’ve done a lot of crap down through the years, man, but I don’t deserve getting threatened by guys with weird names. I mean, who names their kid Magnus?”

The other Lars Ulrich was back at his detachment in Alberta, fresh from the satisfaction of beating up a super-villain and his associates. This reporter sought him out, assured him that he was fully aware he was not the other Lars Ulrich, and asked about the threat. It seems a hollow threat to a lawman who's beaten back dark cabals, other super-villains, giant monsters, and thousands of angry people in brawls. The Inspector shrugged, and smiled in a cold way. That smile matched the coldness of the words that followed.  “He’s welcome to try.”

Still Rough Around The Proverbial Edges

“I volunteered because of a lie.” ~ Jason Bourne

“You’re never going to find any peace, not until you admit to yourself who you really are.” ~ Robert Dewey

“We’ve just been hacked. Could be worse than Snowden.” ~ Craig Jeffers

“He’s seen things. He knows things. What if he’s not coming for us? What if it’s something else?” ~ Heather Lee

“I know who I am. I remember. I remember everything.” ~ Jason Bourne 

“Remembering everything doesn’t mean you know everything.” ~ Nicky Parsons

Nearly a decade after Matt Damon last played the enigmatic amnesiac former government assassin, he returns to the signature role and title character in the new film Jason Bourne. The fifth in the series, and fourth to feature Damon after the Bourne-free The Bourne Legacy of 2012, this brings back director Paul Greengrass, who took on the helm of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum to tell another tale of the life of the rugged former spy, a tale that is timely indeed. The result is a ferocious, well paced action film that is a worthy addition to the franchise, all while continuing to give us a sympathetic (though deadly) protagonist.

Years after the exposure of Operation Blackbriar, the amnesiac Jason Bourne (Damon) is living a secluded life, not as amnesiac as he was when we first met him in The Bourne Identity. He’s older but still dangerous, making a living fighting in illegal fight rings. Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), a former CIA analyst with history with Bourne from the first three films, has become part of a cyber hacktivist group, seeking to expose the Agency’s black ops programs. Documents she uncovers in the Agency’s mainframe are related to Bourne, and she seeks him out, setting off the events of the film. Before things are done, a lethal operative (Vincent Cassel), the Agency’s director (Tommy Lee Jones), and an Agency official (Alicia Vikander) are all pulled into unfolding events.

It might well have been enough back in 2007 to have left Jason Bourne to rest, given the way The Bourne Ultimatum wrapped up. Damon and Greengrass weren’t involved in The Bourne Legacy, which had a new character played by Jeremy Renner and events closely tied into Ultimatum. The two did decide to return for another go at Bourne, with the current state of the world, particularly hacktivism and intelligence agency secrecy being recurrent concerns at present. Those concerns reflect themselves very much in the story, written by Greengrass and Christopher Rouse, as do concepts like anti government protests, family secrets, and corporate intrigue. The character’s quite different than novelist Robert Ludlum would have envisioned him- the first books were firmly settled in Cold War politics and period terrorism. And yet Bourne’s adapted well for the current era.

As dangerous as the character physically is, from the first film the audience has been able to sympathize with him because of the situation he found himself in- having no idea who he is at first must be traumatic, and then to lose a loved one and be hounded by shadowy forces who just won’t leave him alone.... that tends to leave one on the character’s side. That continues here, as the story has Jason learning more about himself, secrets and lies that shake his world view, and the story plays to that.

In grounding itself so strongly in real world sensibilities, the story also gives the film a good sense of authenticity. Suspicion of government agencies, cyber-leaks of troubling secrets, and corporate dealings are prevalent themes in our lives, as is ongoing worries about terrorism, and these are woven right into the script. It makes things quite timely indeed as the story unfolds- it doesn’t seem that implausible in a real world setting.

The first film, directed by Doug Liman, established the series’ signature techniques of fierce action, well paced and dangerous car chases, and physical fights- all of which were meant to serve the story, as opposed to the other way around. Paul Greengrass picked up these techniques for Supremacy and Ultimatum, deftly handling complicated action, sweeping geography in cities and countrysides, and evoking building tension throughout the films. Fundamentally a Bourne film, filled with action sequences as they were, still were filmed in ways that let the audience keep track of what was going on, instead of feeling lost in an action sequence (the disciples of quick cut edits, I’m looking at you). That still applies here in Jason Bourne, with action that still lets you be aware of where the players are, instead of leaving you dizzy. While there is some of the rapid editing one might expect out of action, it’s not overdone at all, and doesn’t leave you bewildered.

Greengrass has his style as a director, established in the earlier films, and reflected in other works like United 93 and Captain Phillips. It’s a style that works, fortunately. He brings a solid sense of knowing how to get the best out of actors, as well as slowly but relentlessly building up tension and dread. This film takes the franchise into new directions, but meshes well with what’s come before it- particularly in the first three films, and that reflects well on the director and his crew. The institutional paranoia that tends to be central to the franchise infests the film, driving up tension as things go along.

And the cast has much to do with how the film works. It’s been standard through the series to bring in a lethal counterpart to Bourne. In this case, Vincent Cassel plays a man referred to as the Asset. He’s a ferocious operative with a personal grudge where Bourne is concerned, and little in the way of mercy. Cassel brings an international flavour to the role, and his character is a legacy of what has come before. Where the old black ops programs were exposed, new ones were put in place, and the Asset is a result of that, a darker version of Bourne who lacks a moral world view.

Another aspect of the series has been that of the corrupt, devious, or power hungry senior official. Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, and David Straithairn filled that role before, and here we get the welcome presence of the great Tommy Lee Jones as CIA director Robert Dewey. He’s a man of hidden agendas and motives, who hasn’t learned from the past and instead reinvests in a program very similar to what’s come before. It’s a treat to watch Jones in pretty much any role; his innate sly grouchy disposition, way with words, and world weary look are some of the things that make him so compelling to watch. And it’s enjoyable to see him share the screen with Damon’s Bourne- the two characters are another kind of reflection of each other, one older, the other younger, and one having had given himself to an ends justifies the means scenario, while the other seeks an end to the nightmares of his past.

Julia Stiles returns, however briefly, as Nicky Parsons, who at first was the resourceful analyst, deep in with the Agency, before breaking away from them and placing herself squarely on the side of Bourne in Ultimatum. There’s some complicated and unspoken history between the two characters, which the actors play to, and her decision to join an organization that has more of an anarchistic streak to it is understandable given her own history.

Alicia Vikander gets a lot to do as Heather Lee, the cyber ops head for the CIA. She seems to be playing both sides off against each other- or is she playing her own game? That’s a question that comes up through the film, as the character shows that her true loyalty might well be to herself and her own ambitions. And ambitious she is. There’s also pragmatism to her personality, and the actress invests these elements into her performance, making the character formidable, if entirely enigmatic.

It’s good to see Damon back as Bourne. He brings the intensity, resourcefulness, and sympathy to the character that we’ve seen from him before. Jason has isolated himself from the world, has a dark past with much to make amends for, but his instincts from the beginning of this series have generally leaned in the right direction, showing mercy instead of taking revenge. It separates him from the villains, who even if they’re in positions of authority don’t really care about the collateral damage they cause. The character struggles with questions about who he is, and when backed into a corner, he moves forward with initiative and resolve. Bourne remains a compelling lead, and Damon plays him with a mixture that is both sympathetic and dangerous.

Will the Bourne franchise carry on after this? If Damon and Greengrass come back, that would be welcome. The newest movie respects and builds on what has come before, presents a dark scenario that feels authentic because it grounds itself firmly in the real world. Its action sequences serve the story well, and the director methodically builds tension and suspense as he goes along. The cast, returning and new, fit their roles well, and the movie moves along briskly, proving to be entertaining all the way. Perhaps next time we can find Bourne at odds with Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross.

Blessed Are The Cheesemakers

I have an image blog for you today. Enjoy!

Stepping Into The Fields Of Normandy

"Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force. You are about to embark on a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you." ~ General Dwight Eisenhower, 1944

Today is the seventieth anniversary of D-Day, the landing of American, British, and Canadian forces on five beaches in Normandy during World War Two, and the turning of the tide on the Western Front. I thought I would review one film that takes D-Day as part of its subject matter. I would also recommend you find The Longest Day, or Ike: Countdown To D-Day for a more recent examination of the lead up to the invasion from the point of view of the commanding general.

"I don't gripe to you, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you, I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a Ranger." ~ Captain Miller

"You wanna explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense in risking the eight of us to save one guy?" ~ Private Reiben

"Why do I deserve to go? Why not any of these guys? They all fought just as hard as me." ~ Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is the 1998 war epic by director Steven Spielberg, following a squad of soldiers in the wake of the D-Day landings, as they set out on a mission into the French countryside. The film won Spielberg a Best Director Oscar, among several other Oscars and awards, and is a harrowing, graphic exploration of war at its most horrendous. While it tells a fictional story, the story carries an authenticity about the life of the soldier in the Second World War, exploring personalities of different men as they drive deeper into occupied territory.

The film starts and ends in Normandy five decades after the landing, with a veteran and his family walking through the military cemetery at Omaha Beach. We are then drawn into the bloody landing at Omaha Beach, following a number of soldiers off a landing craft as they storm the beach and German defenses. They're led by a captain, John Miller (Tom Hanks), and after men fall around them in the barrage against the landing, the squad breaches German defenses, achieving their objective. The first half hour of the film is a violent, brutally realistic view of the invasion from the boots on the ground viewpoint. That very same viewpoint will carry on through the rest of the film.

While Miller and his surviving Rangers catch their breath, the camera shows us a body on the beach. For the only time in the film, the story takes us across the ocean to the halls of power, where the identity of the body is brought to the attention of General Marshall, who learns three brothers have fallen in the line of duty in various theatres of war, and the fourth, a private who parachuted into Normandy, is unaccounted for. He insists that the private be found and brought back home. The mission is given to Miller, who picks the core of his squad to go with him. His right hand sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), rounds up a sardonic private, Reiben (Edward Burns), a sharpshooter, Private Jackson (Barry Pepper), the medic, Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), and two more riflemen, Carpazo (Vin Diesel) and Mellish (Adam Goldberg). They've all faced battle together, and while they might bicker and annoy each other, they know they can count on each other. Miller also brings in a cartographer from the staff, Upham (Jeremy Davies), because he knows he needs someone who can speak French and German. And so the squad sets out from the beachhead in search of a lone private (Matt Damon), who has no idea his brothers are dead.

The story was written by Robert Rodat, who first drew inspiration for it after seeing a Civil War monument about the deaths of eight siblings in that war. Rodat transplants the essence of that into the Second World War, giving the soldiers a mission, one they question the sense of, but one that we can be sympathetic with. A family shattered by the loss of three sons makes for a compelling reason to go after the last son. And while it's a fictional story, it certainly rings true. The Sullivan brothers, for instance, all died during that war when their cruiser sank during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Rodat's script is intensely character based- as much as the story follows a narrative through the ruins of occupied Normandy, it's grounded in these eight men, all of whom are explored in detail and given depth, and in the young man they're out to find, who doesn't believe he has the right to go home.

Spielberg used the work of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski for this film, giving the tone of the film a gritty, devastated look, which perfectly fits Normandy at that time. They shot much of the film in Ireland and England, standing in for Normandy, but the setting looks like you might expect of France in the Second World War- ruined villages, damaged homes, destroyed countryside. The film has a washed out quality in the images, lending it a sense of time and place. Kaminski worked with Spielberg on Schindler's List, and that same tone of harsh realism permeates the entire film; his work would win the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and rightfully so. Colours feel muted, and the finished film has something of a newsreel sensibility to it, completely desaturated. The camerawork also adds to the sense of authenticity to the film- Spielberg chooses to film close and with tight angles, instead of at a distance. During the opening sequence, for example, it feels like the camera is the point of view of a soldier on the beach, including the carnage of war, the noise, and the bloodshed. It's intensely personal, this camerawork that really gives us that boots on the ground perspective. It was a wise decision. 

The sense of authenticity lends itself as well to the work of the crew. The uniforms take us back in time to the era, as do the weapons and vehicles. The same applies to civilian clothing and ordinary items- everything feels like it's drawn out of the past, as if we're walking through the carnage of Normandy in the days following D-Day. Attention to detail is, in a word, rendered with great care, and it really shows. The uniforms, for instance, feel lived in, and the actors look exhausted and drained, a testament, perhaps, to the fact that many of them were subjected to a rigorous boot camp to prepare for the film. The battle sequences have been acclaimed as realistic, and while violent, the purpose is to demonstrate the brutality and desperation of battle. In all that carnage, there never seems to be a gratuitous moment. As well, Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams delivers one of his finest scores, one that is a stark contrast to much of his work. The music only shows itself in the quieter moments, rather than the epic sweep of battle. It gives the audience a moment to breath, and the music in and of itself gives a noble, stirring quality to the film.

There are a number of cameos scattered in various places. Dennis Farina turns up early on as Miller's superior, giving him the assignment. He doesn't like handing the mission to Miller, but stresses its importances. Paul Giamatti and Ted Danson turn up along the way as soldiers Miller and his squad meet on their way to finding Ryan. Giamatti's sergeant is a hardened sergeant among the paratroopers, playing the role as cynical. Danson, playing a fellow captain, learns of Miller's mission, urging him to find the private and get him home, and we sense he means it. All three actors play these roles with a sense of authority as they go along. Another cameo features an early performance by Nathan Fillion (Castle; if you haven't seen the series, you're missing a lot). He turns out to be the wrong Private Ryan, and serves as a brief red herring- the news that his brothers are dead is wrong, but you can understand his reaction. Harrison Young plays Ryan as an old man. When we first see him at the beginning, we don't know who he is, but he conveys the essence of a man who survived the war, and yet feels the sorrow and pain of knowing so many young men died and he got to live. When we catch up to him again at the end, Young's performance rings true to the performance of Damon, and comes across as one of the more poignant performances in the film.

Jeremy Davies occupies the role of Upham, playing him as an outsider. The character is perfectly happy as a staffer, and gets drawn into hazardous duty without really having a choice. He wasn't part of the invasion in the first place, and so hasn't seen battle. He finds himself trying to figure out how to fit in with the rest of the squad, all of whom have seen battle. He's an intellectual, and at one moment, a moral center for the story. At another moment, late in the film, he has an all too human reaction, freezing up in the midst of battle. It's a complicated character, which must make him compelling to play. Vin Diesel as Carpazo is perhaps the least developed of the core squad. Part of that has to do with his fate, and part of it has to do with the fact that Diesel's not that good an actor. He plays the part though as someone who can stay calm in the heat of battle, and yet wears his heart on his sleeve. Giovanni Ribisi plays the medic Wade, and we get to see more of him. He's ferociously angry at moments during the beach landing as his work gets undermined by hellishly accurate German riflefire. He's a young guy who, like so many other soldiers, misses being home. Adam Goldberg gives the character of Mellish a somewhat cynical air. Mellish talks a lot, is something of a wiseguy, and yet is very much aware of the German attitude towards his people. He taunts prisoners of war with the fact that he's Jewish. For him, the personal nature of the war has an added dimension.

Barry Pepper is one of those actors who, for the most part, tends to be interesting in whatever he's in (there are a couple of exceptions, but he's not to blame for disasters like Battlefield Earth and The Lone Ranger). He plays an exceptional marksman who quotes scripture while killing enemy targets, finds himself calm during battle, and suggests the war might end sooner if he was assigned to go after Hitler personally. It's not arrogance- the character simply knows how good he is with a rifle. Edward Burns is the sarcastic and cynical Reiben, plays him as a wiseguy who tends to talk back. Reiben is suspicious of the notion of wasting time going after one man, to the point of disgust when two of their own die, and yet acts protectively during the climactic battle for a private whose life he has held in disdain. Tom Sizemore embodies the sergeant Horvath just as you'd expect. He's a tough guy, feels like he's been in the army for most of his life, and carries himself like a soldier. He keeps the others in line, makes himself indispensible for Miller, and despite the tough exterior, can see the value of the mission.

Matt Damon hit it big before this movie was released with Good Will Hunting, but there's still a freshness in the performance despite being well known at that point. He plays the role as someone who's torn between his duty and the grief he feels for his brothers. He doesn't believe he deserves the right to go home, despite the fact that the order is coming down all the way from the top. He's quite defiant on the point that he must stay where he is until reinforcements can come up to the ruined town where he's posted. And at the same time, we see the agony of his grief moments later as he silently sits among his fellow paratroopers. And in the calm before the storm, we learn more about him, both in a story he tells that proves to be a darkly hilarious tale and in how Miller says that Ryan reminds him of so many students he taught down through the years. And the added touch, in that conversation, in which Ryan admits he can't visualize his brother's faces, rings true to anyone who's suffered a recent grave loss- the shock of the grief does that.

Hanks gives the central role of Miller the gravity and weight that it deserves. He leads his men forward into battle as a natural leader- despite the trembles he does his best to conceal. He manages the personalities of the men under his command. There is a weariness in the character that Hanks brings across, along with a quiet wisdom and an inner resourcefulness. There are moments of gallows humour in the character, but also the behaviour of a commander who knows he must show concern for his men. He feels the losses of fallen men intensely, though he can't show that to the men. And at a pivotal point when the mission seems to be at a  crisis, he is completely honest with his men, giving them insight into himself, and the audience a glimpse at the man inside. In doing that, he defuses the tension in the scene, and it's one of the most powerful scenes in the film.

Saving Private Ryan has established itself as a classic in the war genre, and a truly great film. It is both an epic and an intensely personal, character driven film that deals with the themes of the brotherhood of war, the meaning of courage, and the brutality of battle. It is harrowing and graphic, but it needs to be. It is a gritty, realistic look at the Second World War from the perspective of men on the ground, and is a masterpiece from the director.