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Movies / On DVD / The Great Raid
The Great Raid

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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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Release:

Sep 19, 2006

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Reviews for The Great Raid

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81 - 100 (sorted by date)
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Just about any golden age Hollywood hack could have made a zestier drama about one of the greatest rescue missions in U.S. military history.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
08/11/05
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The drama is well-paced and often exciting.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
08/11/05
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

While the film is often impressive and inspirational, more of the credit for this belongs to the actual events themselves than to their re-creation.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
08/11/05
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Divided three ways among the rangers, the prisoners and the resistance fighters in Manila, the movie feels unfocused, schematic and overpopulated.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
08/11/05
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Although the story of The Great Raid may have never been told on film, it's like every other POW movie, in this case made about 45 years too late.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
08/11/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A tedious World War II epic that slogs across the screen like a forced march in quicksand.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
08/11/05
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Great Raid is a heartfelt film that accurately tells its story but lacks the emotional involvement to put it into the pantheon of great war films.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
08/11/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

There's genuine tension in the film.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
08/11/05
John Anderson
John Anderson
Christian Science Monitor

the cast seem embalmed, as does most of the action...

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
08/11/05
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

The action is brilliant, the combat sharp and rattling, and the film follows the historical record more closely than most Hollywood films.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
08/11/05
Michael Esposito
Michael Esposito
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Painfully slow and earnest, more like a museum exhibit than a motion picture.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
08/11/05
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

The mission of the film is to inspire. Mission accomplished.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
08/11/05
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Represents another step in the depersonalization of John Dahl.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
08/11/05
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The raid is, indeed, great. The rest of the film, sadly, is not.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
08/11/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

The 'Great' Raid is just okay.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
08/11/05
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

Dahl makes something wonderfully curious of this historical material: an old-fashioned war picture, with no sadder-but-wiser deconstruction, no 'updated' salty language and no strained metaphors for later, more controversial conflicts.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
08/11/05
Steve Schneider
Steve Schneider
Orlando Weekly

The film is as black and white as any given State of the Union Address delivered by President George W. Bush.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
08/11/05
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

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.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
08/11/05
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

Here is a war movie that understands how wars are actually fought.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
08/11/05
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It has dreams of sugarplum Oscars dancing in its head, and never stops mistaking spectacle for the truly spectacular.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
08/11/05
Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for The Great Raid

May 18, 2007: Jane Out, Dahl In on "Punisher 2"?
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