Tom Hanks, Edward Burns,and Tom Seizmore, lead a wonderful cast of actors in this gritty, realistic, electrifying WWII drama directed by Steven Spielberg. Already quoted as being the best movie of 1998 (I knew it back in February), Saving Private Ryan is about Captian John Miller and his platoon of men who are on a quest to find a Private James Ryan (played by Matt Damon). His three older brothers all have died in battle and the government wants to bring him home to his mother. It starts off with a harsh, but by all accounts, realistic event of D-Day and the Allied troops landing on Omaha beach to invade Normandy. This part of Saving Private Ryan is probably the most talked about because it's so graphic. Speilberg didn't want to compromise what really happened, and he didn't. In fact, the way the movie was filmed, it feels like we're following right along with the soldiers. The chaos and the carnage is all too blatent to miss and almost too excrutiating to watch. It's only after the first half hour that this, practically three hour film, really dives into the core subject matter (which is saying a lot since this battle scene is the most powerful, mindnumbing scenes ever captured on film for a movie). Tom Hanks plays Captain John Miller, a man determined to be a good soldier, a good officer in any and everything he needs to do. It is he who leads the barage of men: Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Private Reiben (Edward Burns), Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies), Wade (Giovani Ribisi), Private Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Private Jackson (Barry Pepper), and Private Caparzo (Vin Diesel). Some feel it's their duty to save one man's life, while risking their own, but others argue that it's not worth risking eight lives for one. That is a major question in the movie. Although this movie gave that symbol a name (Private Ryan), it didn't matter who was being saved. What mattered was the act of saving and what happens because of it. Throughout this whole moral dilemma in the movie there is some fabulous acting by all the men. Tom Hanks should at least have an oscar nomination as the quiet leader of the group. I should mention that acting alone couldn't have pulled these actors through the different battle scenes. All eight of the main actors had to endure a week of real boot camp, just to prepare for what war was really like. The acting, the directing, the film editing, everything was in top form for this superbly crafted film. Sure this film wasn't made for the weak stomached but it's so awe-inspiring it's necessary to see.