Private Ryan opening scene finally surpassed?
Discussion
I've always thought the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan was the best celluloid portrayal of combat I've seen and would likely remain so, until last night that is when I watched Lone Survivor and the shootout in the mountains. Intense, visceral, gritty, stark, we're gonna need a bigger thesaurus. Now I know the emotions it generated are nothing like actual combat, as I sat there with my beer, crisps and 6.1 surround sound/7ft projector screen but holy cow! The bar has been re-set I feel, unless you can think of anything better.
Nope, it doesn't beat it for me, its a good movie but the number of times each soldier gets shot and dispatched is unrealistic and way too Hollywood.I read the book and I much prefer that, I do think it was good though...just not Saving Private Ryan good...for me the only thing that comes close is Black Hawk Down, specifically the scene when the 2 snipers are put down while trying to help the pilots and they eventually get killed, no Hollywood crap, just bravery in the face of a no-win situation.
..but what do I know
..but what do I know
wolfracesonic said:
'But what do I know?' we're keyboard warriors, we know everything! I'll grant you Lone Survivor lacked SPR's epic scale and grandeur but I'll stick by my initial post(for now!)
It isnt the epic scale that bothered me about lone survivor, it was the sheer number of bullets they took, it wasnt like that according to Marcus's book, and to be honest it didn't need it. Similarly it didn't need the phoning it in from a clifftop scene either.Incidentally if you've not read the book DO IT, it is a fantastic read and deviates a fair bit from the story put across on film.
BlackpoolRock said:
The scene in the woods in Band of Brothers is the best battle scene for me. Or as above Black Hawk Down. Saving Private Ryan was great but a little too Hollywood for me.
I watched SPR with a group of veterans at a cinema night at Tidworth Garrison some years ago.Nearly every single one of them said its the closest they have ever seen a film or TV program depict the landings, but still dont even come close to the true carnage.
As much as ive seen some awful s
t, im thankful i have never been through what they did and immensely grateful for them for doing it.TobyLaRohne said:
Nope, it doesn't beat it for me, its a good movie but the number of times each soldier gets shot and dispatched is unrealistic and way too Hollywood.I read the book and I much prefer that, I do think it was good though...just not Saving Private Ryan good...for me the only thing that comes close is Black Hawk Down, specifically the scene when the 2 snipers are put down while trying to help the pilots and they eventually get killed, no Hollywood crap, just bravery in the face of a no-win situation.
..but what do I know
I agree. Lone Survivor was very enjoyable and well made, but it did bother me the amount of times they got hit to little actual effect. Not that I've ever been in that situation, but could intense training and sheer adrenaline nullify the pain to a certain degree?..but what do I know
Try telling these fellas Rule #5...
http://www.cracked.com/article_17019_5-real-life-s...
(special mention to #4. Yogendra Singh Yadav. He's the dude who I thought of when this subject popped up)
http://www.cracked.com/article_17019_5-real-life-s...
(special mention to #4. Yogendra Singh Yadav. He's the dude who I thought of when this subject popped up)
Hmm, Lone Survivor seemed almost comical when I watched it. Yes the action scenes were fairly good, but the fact that they all were repeatedly shot, and repeatedly jumped off cliffs only to hit the deck and start fighting again had me groaning WTF on several occasions. I have no doubt that similar things did happen that way, but in this film it just came off as typical "Hoorah Americaah" fashion.
As for SPR's opening scene, I can't think of anything that has surpassed it yet. I watched it in the cinema and can remember what made it stand out so much to me - the sounds. It was an unrelenting barrage of gunfire, explosions, whizzes, clunks, all sorts, and with surround sound it was incredible.
I think film will struggle to surpass it as well, as at the time it came out it was truly ground breaking cinema. There had been epic battle scenes in the past, but SPR's married modern technology, accurate source material, (fairly) novel camera work and stunning sound effects into something that had never been seen before on such scale. Until something manages to bring all that together again in another ground breaking scene, we shall be left wanting I think.
As for SPR's opening scene, I can't think of anything that has surpassed it yet. I watched it in the cinema and can remember what made it stand out so much to me - the sounds. It was an unrelenting barrage of gunfire, explosions, whizzes, clunks, all sorts, and with surround sound it was incredible.
I think film will struggle to surpass it as well, as at the time it came out it was truly ground breaking cinema. There had been epic battle scenes in the past, but SPR's married modern technology, accurate source material, (fairly) novel camera work and stunning sound effects into something that had never been seen before on such scale. Until something manages to bring all that together again in another ground breaking scene, we shall be left wanting I think.
Edited by Brigand on Sunday 17th August 18:26
dazwalsh said:
I thought lone survivor was a brilliant movie but not on par with opening scene of SPR. Thats still to this day the greatest war film i have ever seen. the band of brothers series comes a close second. Lone survivor and blackhawk down are up there though for sheer entertainment.
Band of Brothers surpasses Saving Private Ryan for me; the grandeur of that opening scene in SPR was matched and bettered in some episodes of BOB (IMO). Blackhawk Down and Lone Survivor are great movies though. Have always liked Michael Mann's shoot-outs as well, and even thought the Heat (and Public Enemies) are impressive they aren't on the same scale as BOB or SPR. parabolica said:
dazwalsh said:
I thought lone survivor was a brilliant movie but not on par with opening scene of SPR. Thats still to this day the greatest war film i have ever seen. the band of brothers series comes a close second. Lone survivor and blackhawk down are up there though for sheer entertainment.
Band of Brothers surpasses Saving Private Ryan for me; the grandeur of that opening scene in SPR was matched and bettered in some episodes of BOB (IMO). Blackhawk Down and Lone Survivor are great movies though. Have always liked Michael Mann's shoot-outs as well, and even thought the Heat (and Public Enemies) are impressive they aren't on the same scale as BOB or SPR. Another shootout of sorts I've just remembered - the sniper attack in 'Full Metal Jacket'.
Halmyre said:
The 'Heat' shootout stands out for the sheer bloody racket they make....
Yes that was a good one, and IIRC one of the things that made it so good was the fact it was choreographed by a Special Forces chap (for some reason Chris Ryan of all people springs to mind as being that man) so their Fire & Manoeuvre procedures they were doing there were spot on, instead of the usual "Run & Gun" that Hollywood usually defaults to. Like you say, the sound was great there too, displaying a much more accurate sound effect than Hollywood likes to use. Guns tend to be quite boring in sound, unlike Hollywood which likes to portray them as having all kinds of scary / exciting noises.
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