got around to directing Saving Private Ryan

 

How 'Saving Private Ryan' Has Influenced War Movies Since Its Release

BYJEFFREY SPEICHER

PUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO

The war classic turns 25 this year.

A full dozen years after Oliver Stone set a new standard for the modern war film with his epic Vietnam War piece, Platoon, in 1986, Steven Spielberg got around to directing Saving Private Ryan in 1998 and forever lifted the bar for the genre. Its sweeping blend of visceral action sequences, highlighted by the film's opening sequence as American troops storm Omaha Beach in 1941, to the development of a bevy of thoughtful and complex characters led by Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, and Edward Burns instantly became the new gold standard. Almost every war movie that has followed over the last 25 years stands on its shoulders. There have been a handful of excellent films about the horrifying and brutal nature of war over the years like 

Black Hawk Down,, and Hacksaw Ridge, and each one of them owes a debt of gratitude to Spielberg and his crew for providing what is undoubtedly the blueprint for state of the art wartime movies.