There will always be certain genres that directors will return to due to the emotional weight that can come with them, which is why there’s such a fascination for war films.

Not only is there a sense of brotherhood in the face of adversity, but there’s also an opportunity to deliver huge action set pieces on a large canvas.

Steven Spielberg had already shown an interest in war films with his war comedy 1941 and Empire of the Sun. But he didn’t take a deep dive into the involvement of the US army’s involvement in WW2 until 1998’s Saving Private Ryan.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Spielberg’s epic is being re-released in 4K.

After a harrowing arrival on Omaha Beach, Normandy, Captain John. H. Miller (Tom Hanks), manages to survive the ordeal, unlike many of his fellow soldiers. With few of his original battalion remaining, he is given a new mission; when office staff realise they are having to send three letters of condolences to one mother having lost three of her sons, they notice she has one other son, in country. The PR department decide that it’s imperative that her last remaining son, Private Ryan (Matt Damon), be pulled from action and returned safely to his family. But in order for that to happen, he needs to be found.

Miller is given this particular mission, as well as a handful of men, as they set across the hazardous French countryside, teeming with Germans, in the hope of finding one man, hopefully still alive.

Using the books of war historian Stephen E. Ambrose as inspiration, Spielberg’s film is an insular story set against the backdrop of a global event. It’s a story that allows him to focus on that peculiar bond that soldiers develop, where a bunch of random strangers are slung together for a common cause. And it’s this that allows the director to strip back these masculine characters and reveal their vulnerabilities.

But of course, it also allows him to play war with some very impressive toys. Even now, his opening battle scene is one of the most impressive and horrifying ever put to film. It’s no wonder that it has gone on to inspire generations of filmmakers with what can be achieved. And without it, it’s unlikely we would have seen the likes of Sam Mendes’ 1917 and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.

The war genre is also one that never really loses its cinematic potency, as perfected illustrated here. It may well be 25 years old, but Spielberg’s film is as striking as ever, as it displays the many horrors of war. It’s no wonder then that he picked up his second Oscar for Best Direction with it, with the film winning five overall.

Of course as it’s a war film it has to have that young ensemble cast, that included Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies and Vin Diesel, but of course it was Hanks who held the whole thing together, who cemented his position as a serious actor after a run of a number of comedies.

Spielberg did return to the theme of war in his TV mini-series Band of Brothers, but Saving Private Ryan still remains, to this day, a definitive example of the war genre. It’s no surprise then that it made the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

What it also is, is an example of a creative director in Spielberg at the pinnacle of his career, producing a feature that is often cited as not only one of the best war films ever made, but one of the greatest films full stop. And that’s difficult to dispute.

This then is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen, in all its bloody glory, presented in 4K, which means that whether you’ve watched it before or not, it remains a must-see.