I saw "Ryan" first (on HBO), and really enjoyed it, so I went out and picked up "Thin Red Line"....which - IMHO - is a completely different movie, in every single respect.
If I had seen them in a different order, it's possible I'd feel differently. That, and with having relatives who were in the ETO, I've got more interest (a connection?) there than with the Pacific Theater.
However, I will say that you're the first guy I've chatted with that liked it. Different strokes, as you say.
A lot of people didn’t know what to expect with “Thin Red Line”, especially because “Ryan” set the expectations (you’re not the only one who saw it first... everybody but Terrance Malick did). They are very, very different movies (aside from the fact that I think one is brilliant and the other is a cartoon).
I had a couple of friends who despised “Thin Red Line” after seeing it within a few weeks of “Ryan”. They went to see a war movie and got a “f***ing poem”. I implored them to sit down and watch it again, with adjusted expectations. One of them loved it the second time around, the other never made it past the first hour.
Oh well.