The Great Raid (2005)

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

• Details
• Description
• Reviews

The Great Raid (Widescreen Director's Cut) List Price: $39.99 Sale Price: $24.99 You save: $15.00 (38%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Description

Nearly three years after it was filmed, The Great Raid finally appeared as a welcome reminder that good old-fashioned World War II movies never go out of style. While lacking the scale, prestige, and pulse-pounding momentum of Saving Private Ryan, this fact-based war drama benefits from a back-to-basics approach to realism and a rousing rescue climax that more than compensates for the slower passages that precede it. Adapted from the books The Great Raid on Cabanatuan and Ghost Soldiers, it chronicles the five-day mission (in late January 1945) to rescue 511 American prisoners of war held by the Japanese at Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. Under the direction of neo-noir specialist John Dahl (The Last Seduction), the film's three-part structure follows the raid mission led by Lt. Col. Mucci (Benjamin Bratt); the plight of the POWs at Cabanatuan, including malaria-stricken Maj. Gibson (Joseph Fiennes); and civilian resistance in Manila as carried out by real-life hero and Gibson's (fictional) would-be lover Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen), whose effort to aid the POWs is vigilantly monitored by the enemy Japanese. In keeping with war-movie traditions, Dahl handles character and action with no-nonsense intelligence, favoring a slow build over pumped-up adrenalin. By the time the miraculous rescue is executed with critical assistance by Filpino guerillas, The Great Raid has earned its stripes, honoring the brave men who carried out the most successful rescue mission in U.S. military history. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Information

Binding: DVD
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Brand:
Manufacturer: Miramax Home Entertainment
Original Release Date:
Actors:

• Benjamin Bratt
• Joseph Fiennes
• James Franco
• Robert Mammone
• Max Martini

Reviews

Related posts:

1. Great Guns (1941)
2. Air Raid Wardens (1943)
3. Raid on Rommel (1971)
4. The Sun (2005)
5. The Great Dictator (1940)
6. The Great Escape (1963)
7. The Last Drop (2005)
8. Stealth (2005)
9. Jarhead (2005)
10. Pearl Harbor (2001)

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 5:36 am and is filed under 2000s, Reviews, World War II Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.