The Great Raid focuses on the 1945 rescue mission mounted by the Rangers against the Japanese prison camp at Cabanatuan in the Philippines. It was an ambitious mission, to be sure, and it had to be done to keep the Japanese from burning their prisoners alive, as they'd taken to doing in some of the other camps, rather than release or move the prisoners.

However this movie just falls flat, plain and simple. The first three-quarters leaves you wondering when anything at all is going to happen. There's a lot of talk. And more talk. And some more waffling and talking.

And then they have to go wrap some silly love story into the mix. The whole side story (which seems to eclipse the main premise for most of the film) is about an American nurse named Margaret, who is helping the Philippine resistance, and her estranged lover who is a prisoner at Cabanatuan. And in the end this particular story comes to naught, and really seems irrelevant.

The movie really shows just how nasty and ruthless the Japanese could be, and parts of it will leave you cringing, especially the "10-for-1" retribution scene.

However, at the end, we finally get a bit of action as the raid on the camp commences. But even this is not that exciting, or interesting for that matter, and devolves into a few cliche moments. It does however pay some much-needed homage to the role of the Philippine resistance fighters, and their civilian counterparts in the rest of the film.

Based on the true events surrounding the real "Great Raid", it just doesn't pack much punch at all. The whole "love story" bit just ruined it for me.

Technorati Tags: war movies, the great raid, cabanatuan, pacific, world war ii