It was unknown exactly where private Ryan was or even if he was still alive. After landing on Omaha beach and making it through enemy fire, Captain John Miller is given orders to gather together a squad of soldiers and go on a mission to find Private Ryan. Miller gathers together eight soldiers and they set off on their assignment. Most of these soldiers, however, are not happy with this new assignment, they complain that it is wasteful and foolish to be diverted away from the more pressing mission of defeating Hitler's armies. Attempting to find one single soldier in the chaos of the invasion was like attempting to find a needle in haystack and furthermore he may not even still be alive. Captain Miller though was set on accomplishing the mission and would not be swayed.

As the invasion continues, the Allied troops drive Hitler's forces further and further back into France. The Germans, however, do not go down without a fight and Captain Miller's soldiers encounter fierce pockets of resistance on their journey. Typically director Steven Spielberg does not spare the details of battle no matter how ugly and disturbing. This movie takes the viewer right into the heart of fierce combat and shows what the fighting men actually experienced. The D-Day invasion is a great chapter in history - the battle to free western Europe from the oppression of the Nazi occupation. Seeing the horror of what the soldiers went through during the formidable invasion makes you respect them even more. The battle scenes are incredibly detailed and excruciating.

There are fine performances all around, I particularly liked Tom Hanks as Captain Miller, Tom Sizemore as Sergeant Mike Horvath, Barry Pepper as Private Daniel Jackson, and Adam Golberg as Private Stanley Mellish. Golberg provides one of the lighter moments in the movie when a group of captured German soldiers is being marched away and Private Mellish, who is Jewish, stands before the passing Germans and holds out the Star of David emblem around his neck and points to himself while saying "Jude" which means "Jew" in German. The most memorable performance of the entire movie goes to Jeremy Davies as Corporal Timothy Upham. He joins the squad on the mission to find Private Ryan because Captain Miller needs an interpreter. Corporal Upham is fluent in French and German but has not had any combat experience and has not fired his weapon except once in basic training. This mission puts him right in the middle of major combat, something that he is not prepared to deal with and in one of the movie's most painful moments he finds himself completely overcome with dread. Upham adds depth and complexity to the issue of how people are affected by battle and how they react to it.

This is a truly poignant movie, a must for anyone interesting in WWII.