Sign In Now ► or Create A New Account ►
9 comments
10 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 8/2/2017
Goodness. World War II makes for compelling cinema. For being dramatically intense and visually breathtaking in every frame of its every second, I pick Dunkirk.
SPR still stands above....
Saving private Ryan is the greatest war movie ever made. It's a masterpiece. Dunkirk is great no denying that but it falls short of the masterpiece status .
There isn't a single measurable aspect of Dunkirk that falls below "masterpiece status".
on 8/3/2017
War doesn't care about your backstory.
on 10/24/2017
Two of the greatest war defining films created, a truly worthy comparison!
on 10/25/2017
Saving Private Ryan in EVERY way; Better pacing, actual characters, brutal action. It SHOULD be no contest.
And PiccoloKing and SquareMaster316 are cheating with multiple comments so balancing out...
There. Nolan's good, but Spielberg is a master for a reason
on 12/21/2017
Dunkirk was good and heartwarming, but SPR is a classic epic movie.
on 1/16/2018
Well... SPR is more blood and guts driven yet Dunkirk is more artistically driven. SPR is more character and dialogue driven yet Dunkirk is more subtle and realistic about its characters and emotion. Honestly, Dunkirk. The momentum of SPR only last about 25 minutes then the pacing is all over the place, the story is very weak and it forces emotion on you by stopping the movie for "This is my life" exposition. War doesn’t care for your backstory. In war, you fight to stay alive. Usually, people who fight in war will only know the last name of the people they're fighting with, at most. Dunkirk is about the event, and like life, there’s no set person who gets their story focused on. It’s young men fighting for their country and staying to stay alive. Also, there is emotion. I wanted Tom Hardy to land, the entire crowd gasped both times I saw Dunkirk at least 3 times and it was such a relief when they did made it home.
on 2/24/2018
Nolan proved that you don't have to have an over-the-top gorefest to convey the horrors of war.
on 3/5/2018
Dunkirk might just be the closest we have come in nearly 20 years to producing a combat-based war film of a calibre to match Saving Private Ryan. I love both enormously, but SPR just edges this one out on the benefit of repeat viewings. Perhaps Dunkirk will end up overtaking after a few years and rewatches, but for now, SPR wins a pretty close contest.
on 8/19/2018
I agree wholeheartedly with Square and Eagle. Dunkirk is the best war movie of the 21st century. Saving Private Ryan wasn't even the best war movie of 1998!
Saving Private Ryan was more engaging with characters I cared about. The realistic war scenes of Private Ryan was riveting. Dunkirk was well made but it had a lack of story and many scenes were repetitious and drawn out.
on 2/17/2020
Saving Private Ryan easy, dunkirk was bad awfully bad.
on 5/6/2022
Two of the greatest War movies of all time!
on 11/3/2022
I choose the best war movie
on 11/10/2022
Surprisingly, Dunkirk. It's better paced, far more tense, has a beautiful and anxiety-inducing score, and is incredibly layered in its powerful and universal themes and ideas. It's a technical masterpiece and adept in storytelling as well, opting for gritty realism, immersion, and transcendence, over traditional narrative.
on 1/30/2023
Both need rewatches but I will go with SPR for now
on 4/23/2023
Dunkirk was a close attempt to overtake the 2nd best war movie (1 is AN) but the lack of focus on the characters is able to give SPR the edge
on 7/25/2023
I agree it's SVP. Even though i think its ending is overly cheesy.
