Originally, when I sat down to write about Saving Private Ryan, I was going to focus on the robbery of a Best Picture Academy Award at the hands of Shakespeare in Love, but that would, once again, move the focus away from what should be considered one of the most technically impressive and savage war films of all time. Twenty-five years after its release, Saving Private Ryan still has the power to transport viewers back to 1944 and immerse them in hell with thrilling practical effects, amazing performances, and revolutionary cinematography.

The Indiana Jones movies ignited my fandom of Steven Spielberg (it has significantly waned in recent years – looking at you Ready Player One), so his pairing with Tom Hanks to make an epic film that plucked the strings of my rabid interest in World War II made the presence of Saving Private Ryan feel like one of those pillar cinematic entries where the anticipation and excitement is something that sticks with you, even years later. It is one of those movies that makes you a movie fan.

Saving Private Ryan fanned the flames of my love for movies, forced me to commit to getting excited about all future Spielberg movies, and solidified that Tom Hanks is, without a doubt, my favorite actor of all-time and a national treasure. Beyond my personal love of this film, it also sits at 71 in the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 100 Greatest American Films of All Time, which solidifies its timeless appeal and reverie. Because Saving Private Ryan is one of my favorite movies, I struggle to see how it only rises to 71, so let’s try to make an objective assessment.

Saving Private Ryan is not a truly original story. The core of its tale is inspired by the five Sullivan brothers and their passing together with the sinking of the USS Juneau. Additionally, everything in the movie occurs amid the backdrop of historical places and events, with the imagery and sounds of war readymade for cinematic exploitation. Now, I could go through AFI’s list and make similar commentary (outside the backdrop of war) about most of the films, so I feel it necessary to provide greater weight to the art of the film and level of engagement it elicits. When using those two factors, Saving Private Ryan must be ranked higher.

It is one thing to make a war film and use the events, settings, and materiel, but it is something greater to make a war film and have it yank you into the world so deeply that you feel different when the credits role. Your emotions were toyed with. There were moments where you forgot to breathe because the action was so intense, so brutal, that the whole of your being was fixated on what played out on screen. The color and settings are gritty. The soundtrack is simultaneously galvanizing and unnoticeable; it is simply part of the environment, a crucial component of a carefully crafted ecosystem. And lastly, the performances are so appropriate and diverse that you ride the emotions of each character and feel a pang of emptiness in their loss. These are the feelings and experiences I encounter each time I watch Saving Private Ryan. Every. Single. Time. I cannot say what boxes need to be checked to make something a masterpiece, but I know few films that can hold a candle to Saving Private Ryan. It created the look and feel so many subsequent films attempted to recreate, which certainly feels like something worthy of being considered a masterpiece.

Spielberg accomplished in Saving Private Ryan what he has in so many of his films with taking a good, but not necessarily remarkable story, and creating an immersive, visually appealing cinematic experience that envelops the viewers’ attention; the film ends up being the only thing that exists while it is playing and the main thing viewers are thinking about when it is over. I may be using the word “experience” a lot in this piece, but it is an apt description for what the film aims to be and what it accomplishes. If your attention wanes or you fail to have any sort of emotional response while experiencing Saving Private Ryan, I cannot imagine the threshold that must be met to make you appreciate anything in life. I hope you eventually discover something that softens your calloused heart.

Honestly, it is okay to not like Saving Private Ryan or any movie that I may like; individual preferences are valid, and films like this are not for everyone. I use the hyperbole, however, to emphasize how impactful Saving Private Ryan has been in my development as a movie aficionado. While the film does not necessarily provide the “escape” often associated with movies, it certainly transports me somewhere else, and highlighting the strife and loss of war, even when dramatized, is an important component in preventing history from repeating itself. To me, this gives Saving Private Ryan substance that only helps accentuate the beauty and brutality of a legendary film.