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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.

Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

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

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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Telling the audience they're watching heroes is a very different thing than stirring emotions and ratcheting up suspense.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
08/12/05
E! Online
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
08/13/05
Boston Phoenix

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
08/13/05
Hollywood.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
08/13/05
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/26/05
AV Club

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

Heartfelt, reverent, honorable, and, ultimately, more than a little dull.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
08/11/05
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

The Great Bore. War epic lacks emotional impact.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
08/12/05
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

When the rescue operation finally begins, this well-filmed movie comes alive.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
08/10/05
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

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

You have to salute its devotion to heroism, but a gripping, involving movie would have been a greater tribute.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
08/12/05
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

Feels strangely of a piece with the war films from the very period it chronicles... and will appeal to hardcore genre fans but not likely make a huge commercial impact.

Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine | comment Comment
08/12/05
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Now Playing Magazine

Great Raid shines a light on an important, little-told tale of WWII combat, but the history deserves less drowsy reverence and more wartime enthusiasm.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
08/11/05
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

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

Centers on an undeniably brave and extraordinary World War II rescue, yet it fails to excite until its final scenes.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
08/12/05
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
Sacramento Bee

... a refreshingly old-fashioned World War II drama [that], much like its central characters ... gets down to business and stays with the task until the job is done.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal | comment Comment
08/12/05
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

The movie never quite lives up to the magnitude of the story it's trying to tell.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
08/12/05
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

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.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/11/05
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com

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

Undeveloped secondary characters and awkward pacing thwarts the movie from achieving its '60s war film ethos similar to "The Great Escape."

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/15/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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