I felt like I was being held prisoner. How could such a daring rescue be so boring?
The Great Raid (2005)
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Reviews Counted:116
Fresh:41
Rotten:75
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Though the climax of the film -- the actual raid -- is exciting, the rest of it is bogged down in too many subplots and runs on for too long.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong war violence and brief language
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Aug 12, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $10,074,830
Synopsis: Director John Dahl switches genres from film noir (THE LAST SEDUCTION, RED ROCK WEST) to military actioner with THE GREAT RAID. Following the 1942 Bataan Death March, thousands of U.S. and Filipino... Director John Dahl switches genres from film noir (THE LAST SEDUCTION, RED ROCK WEST) to military actioner with THE GREAT RAID. Following the 1942 Bataan Death March, thousands of U.S. and Filipino soldiers were imprisoned by the Japanese in a POW camp in Cabantauan in the Philippines. Brutalized, starved, and tortured, the prisoners languished in the camp for nearly three years. But in January 1945, an American battalion, with the help of Filipino guerrillas, planned a daring mission--some called it suicide--to rescue the five hundred U.S. soldiers still alive there. The film is told in glorious detail. The story is based on two books, THE GREAT RAID: RESCUING THE DOOMED GHOSTS OF BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR by William B. Breuer and GHOST SOLDIERS: THE EPIC ACCOUNT OF WORLD WAR II'S GREATEST RESCUE MISSION by Hampton Sides. In addition, several men involved in the raid served as consultants on the project. The result is a thrilling, agonizing, and unforgettable war movie like they used to make in the 1940s and 1950s, a celebration of the human spirit. THE GREAT RAID stars Benjamin Bratt as Lt. Colonel Mucci, an offbeat military man who puts his faith in young Captain Prince (James Franco) to lead the dangerous mission. Among the men imprisoned in the camp are Joseph Fiennes as the ailing Major Gibson and Marton Csokas as Captain Redding, who is always trying to escape. Connie Nielsen adds romantic tension as a war widow smuggling much-needed medicine into the camp. [More]
Starring: Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Robert Mammone, Max Martini
Starring: Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Robert Mammone, Max Martini, Joseph Fiennes, Marton Csokas, Natalie Mendoza, Dale Dye
Director: John Dahl
Director: John Dahl
Screenwriter: Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro
Producer: Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Jonathan Gordon, Lawrence Bender, Marty Katz
Composer: Trevor Rabin
Studio: Miramax Films
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Reviews for The Great Raid
It lacks both excitement and outrage, and all that remains is solemnity. It makes you wonder whether you should watch the movie or stand at attention.
Sometimes you can have the best story a filmmaker could ask for, a giant pile of money and all the best intentions, only to end up with a sub-par piece of work.
A well-produced, rousing feature based on one of those forgotten World War II episodes that make for great cinema.
'Nothing in our lives will ever be as important as this,' says Lt. Bratt, in a pep talk that some of his boys might have found more depressing than motivational.
Unfortunately, although John Dahl's film may have the length one normally expects from a war film with an ambitious trajectory, it lacks focus and the pacing is uneven.
At times the action drags, but the details of the raid itself are riveting. The rescue scenes will leave you feeling as if you were in the midst of battle.
Appeals to your interest in military strategy and the performance of our troops at their best. Patriots with an ounce of fervor should be willing to pay double or see it twice
A WWII movie so parched, so Reader's Digest expository, so utterly expressionless, it confuses taciturn Greatest Generation nobility with paralysis.
What makes The Great Raid so disappointing is that the heroic moment it depicts deserves so much more.
Dullest. Cast. Ever. Everybody in this movie comes off like they're playing dress-up. Here's one that should've stayed in the vault.
See the film for its depiction of astounding heroism and military ingenuity. Take the rest with a grain of salt.
Okay, so [it's] the hokiest war movie in the last 35 years....Bottom line: is the raid great? The answer is “yes,” qualified by the film’s unearned 132-minute running time.
While the historical events depicted were unusual and cause for genuine celebration, the film that depicts these events is a dull, by-the-numbers set of war-movie clichés.
Divided three ways among the rangers, the prisoners and the resistance fighters in Manila, the movie feels unfocused, schematic and overpopulated.
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