I'll admit it. The first thirty minutes of Saving Private Ryan are incredible...absolutely amazing filmmaking that manages to be incredibly disturbing and incredibly exciting at the same time. Probably the best filmmaking Spielberg has ever done (and I will admit to loving a few of his movies...). However, when the "plot" kicks in, the movie loses all of its steam. But, damn, is that first sequence excellent. It manages to sustain the entire movie anyway.