Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

romanorum1 "The Great Raid" is about the most successful rescue mission in US military history. The opening monologue's newsreel footage provides a very brief summary of the Pacific Theater of Operations and Japanese anxiety as the tide of World War II changes. Shown are the terrible trials of the 1942 forced 60-mile Bataan death march, where hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of their Filipino allies perished in the Philippines. In 1944, the Japanese war ministry issued a directive that all prisoners of war (POW) were to be eliminated before rescue by the Americans. One horrible scene in particular demonstrates Japanese cruelty: the Palawan massacre, when 150 American POWs were forced into trenches, doused with gasoline and burned alive shortly after MacArthur's 1944 landing.In late January 1945, the Americans made preparations to free the remaining 500 allied POWs from the Cabanatuan prison camp. The prisoners have been weakened and starved. There are 250 Japanese soldiers in the prison camp, and 1,000 more nearby. A quarter of a million fresh American troops were already on Luzon in the north, the largest Philippine island. Lt. Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) is chosen to direct the Sixth Ranger Battalion (120 men) and Filipino allies through 30 miles of jungles in a rescue attempt. Mucci's chief strategist is Captain Bob Prince (James Franco), who plans (and leads) the campaign. There is a major subplot: It involves plucky Nurse Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen, based upon a real person) who smuggles medicines, especially quinine, into the POW camp. Her place of work is Manila Hospital, which harbors Japanese spies and informers. She was picked up, questioned, and tortured by the Japanese. A widow, she is romantically linked with the unfortunate Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes), the highest ranking American soldier in the Cabanatuan camp. Debilitated, he suffers from malaria and cannot get quinine. While the Sixth rangers are the best-trained force in the US Army, they have never been tested under fire. Meanwhile just before the raid Japanese Colonel Mori (Ken Senga) receives many barrels of fuel, and awaits orders from Tokyo to liquidate all of the Bataan prisoners. A single American airplane flies over the camp at twilight to give prisoners hope. After dark the fighting begins. There are no spoilers here. The movie's promotion states right up that this is a story about a daring rescue mission. There is no mystery as to who won the world war. Rather, the film is about how the rescue was done. It is amazing that only two Americans died (The Filipinos sustained 21 casualties). The actual footage during the end credits was a real treat along with the uplifting soundtrack. As much as this tale deserves to be told, some may consider the first part to be rather slow-moving. Once the raid actually begins, however, the movie does pick up. Overall, this is an uplifting message of redemption based on actual historical events, and there is very little exaggeration. The film is narrated by James Franco.

SnoopyStyle In the notorious POW camp at Cabanatuan in occupied Philippines, the Japanese hold about 500 American prisoners who had survived the Bataan Death March. The Japanese are getting orders to liquidate the prisoners. Over the course of 5 days starting at Jan 27, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Mucci and Captain Prince (James Franco) lead the 6th Ranger Battalion along with the Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrillas to liberate the prison camp some 30 miles behind enemy lines. The movie switches back and forth between the rescue, people like Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen) who is a nurse in occupied Manila, and the prison camp where men led by Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) suffer under Japanese brutality.It's an old fashion traditional war movie. It does stray into melodrama from time to time. It's also scattered among the various character sideplots. The scale of production is just below epic. There are a lot of good actors at work. However that does make me question why Benjamin Bratt is cast as the soldier in charge of the rescue. That seems to be the more important role and a more established actor like Fiennes should be doing it. This would work better if the movie picks between a prison movie or a rescue movie and put Fiennes in the lead of either. The final rescue action is done well and the movie is generally good but not great.

bob cool I was disappointed by this movie. It seemed like one overacted, trite scene after another. I really was waiting for someone to put their wrist to their forehead and gaze off into the distance in dramatic pose, a la the silent movie era actors. All the other elements were present- good actors, cinematography wasn't bad, great story as background- but the poor script and overacting never let it get off the ground, no tension ever builds, there is absolutely no character development whatsoever, and the movie drags on towards an ending. I think this is more of a drama/chick flick than a war movie, or even adventure tale. There are plenty of much better war movies out there, don't waste your time with this one as I had a hard time just writing ten lines about it.

freemantle_uk The Great Raid is a very unfocused war film, hoping to cash in on the critical success of other war films like Saving Private Ryan and commercial success of Pearl Harbor. It is a war film that tries to have it's cake and eat it.During the dying days of World War II the American is started to advance through the Philippines. The Japanese are having to retreat, they start to kill prisoners of war, instead of releasing them. A new American Battalion had been formed, the Sixth Rangers. There are meant to be elite infantry troops. They are led by Lt. Col. Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) and a very capable young officer Capt. Robert Prince (James Franco). They are giving the mission to liberate American PoWs from Cabanatuan. It is an opportunity for the Rangers to prove themselves. At Cabanatuan the PoW are led by Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes), a survive of the Japanese invasion and the Bataan Death March. His story shows how the Japanese were becoming more brutal to the PoWs. It become harder to bribe guards and smuggle in supplies. The Japanese bring in the Kempeitai (Military Police) to run the camp, with the aim to kill the troops. They use fear to ensure that the PoWs done try and escape. The third story is about Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen), an American Nurse who works in Malina. She works with the Filippo resistance, smuggling in medical supplies to American PoWs. The Japanese start to suspect she is working against them.There are worst films then The Great Raid, but it does have a lot of problems. It basically is too ambitious for its own good and trying to tell too many story at once. It became too distracting and leaves the audience unsure and who there are meant to focus on. It's trying to tell a war story, a prisoner of war story and a resistance story. It bogs the film down, leaving it to be a little boring. A more sensible route would have been shown a film about the build up and training of the Rangers, whilst showing some scenes of the Prisoner of War camp and then show the troops fighting to get to the camp. The story of resistance could have been told in it's own film. It felt like the film was trying to be The Bridge Over the River Kwai, but obviously not as successful. The film should have been the raid. I also felt that the voice-over by James Franco distracting and gives the audience too much information. The beginning was too similar to the beginning of A Bridge too Far; text at the beginning would have been better.There are some saving graces to the film. There are decent performances, Joseph Fiennes is normally good and put a lot of effort. James Franco was a okay, and so were many of the other performers. The action and war seems are also very good and the final third of the film is pretty exciting. There should have been more war scenes, considering it is a war film.This film could have been so much more. I personally recommend The Bridge Over the River Kwai, or if you want a film about resistance watch Black Book or Lust, Caution.