The Great Raid

Plodding war film.

It's a little slow, a bit long and it lays it on pretty thick when it comes to the "drama". Plus, I have a hard time buying Benjamin Bratt as anything but a cop in tv movies. Especially with his stupid fake mustache here. The battle scenes are good, but not great. James Franco doesn't really cut it either. All around, a letdown, but it's not horrible.

While good intentions don't always equate to a good movie, The Great Raid almost defies that notion by making you cheer for the soldiers and their plight, despite being knowingly manipulated by formula Hollywood claptrap.

Good performances and well-paced war film, but very little under the surface.

True story and war movie. I really wanted to enjoy this more but it was lacking somehow

This film tends to drag, and has far too many scenes with characters whispering or mumbling, which gets old fast. It also does a poor job of introducing the characters or making it clear what they are doing at any given time. Almost all of this can be attributed to poor direction, so I point he finger at John Dahl who treats this as if it's a bedroom drama, not a war drama. He assumes you can tell where each scene is instead of establishing each jump. Frustrating.

Benjamin Bratt was awful.

A highly recommendable film based on , "the great raid on Cabanatuan" .

13/1/2010 partly seen

This wasn't as shitty as I expected to be. I mean, nobody has any character arc of note, but that's probably for the best. I kind of liked some of the preparation stuff, and none of the performances were bad. Don't get me wrong, though, I didn't like this movie. It was mostly just badly written and generic. But it could have been worse.

Not bad, not good. Wish it had more emphasis on the raid and the aftermath itself. The build-up to the raid takes too long, and when the raid is over the movie just stops. The real pictures during the end-credits tell so much more....

Granted, The Great Raid isn't full of suspense (obviously, we know the ending). And it isn't necessarily on the level of a Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan when it comes to Oscar-worthy acting or cinematography. But it is a visual memorial of sorts, a powerful reminder of both the best and the worst of the human soul. (pluggedin.com)

Not the most "grand" movie, and the "American Hollywood patriotism vibe" is to be found, but still an honest story and for me, I find it hard not to believe when they show that much original footage and give real life fact of the characters. *Recommendable

An interesting and important event turned into a badly written and stale war movie that feels older than WW2 itself. Director John Dahl ought to be better than this.