The Great Raid (2005)

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Once a tale shared across the United States, the long-lost story of THE GREAT RAID has been recreated with meticulous authenticity to pay testimony to the many different people, from U.S. commanders to Filipino soldiers to women aid workers to the POWs themselves, who played a part in turning this time of intense hardship and unrelenting danger into a moment of

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Something went wrong here, and the result is a muddled movie that has a solid climax but a poor build-up. In the end, it can be said that The Great Raid tells a great story, but the telling is not as good as the story deserves. 

Now that we are involved in a lengthy and bloody ground war there, it is good to have a film that is not about entertainment for action fans, but about how wars are won with great difficulty, risk, and cost. 

--Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)

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The Great Raid is empty in comparison to those films, and is more in the league of Windtalkers (C+). It could’ve been an inspiring true story of heroism, but the film forgot to take the audience along for the mission. C+

--Lee Tistaert (Lee's Movie Info)

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Filmed in Australia, The Great Raid is sadly rife with cliché-ridden lines right out of a corny, forties-era war flick (minus the profanity, of course). And if the barely developed characters aren't spouting tired truisms, they're filling in the narrative and character blanks through exposition-heavy dialogue that sounds forced, at best. 

--TIM KNIGHT (Reel.com)

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The result is a refreshing departure from space operas and effects-driven fantasies. It is your father's war movie about your father's war. 

--Duane Dudek

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It’s just a pity that the dedication hasn’t translated into much more than a mediocre movie. It’s a telling sign of the picture’s failure that the documentary footage of Rangers and returnees shown over the closing credits is so much more resonant than what’s preceded it. C

--Frank Swietek

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Ulimately, the requirements of a war picture don't play to Dahl's strengths. There are shady characters on screen, but because the movie is ultimately meant as a work of valor, there's no occasion for the director to revel in mischief. Good and bad are labeled with blatant economy, like canned goods on a supermarket shelf. 

-- (Boston Globe)

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Directed by

John Dahl Rounders, Joy Ride, The Last Seduction

Cast

Benjamin Bratt Traffic, Miss Congeniality, Demolition Man James Franco Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Tristan + Isolde Clayne Crawford A Walk to Remember, Swimfan, A Love Song for Bobby Long Dale Dye Saving Private Ryan, Mission: Impossible, Outbreak Robert Mammone The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Vertical Limit Max Martini Pictures o94af Baby Jane Doe, Another Day, Cement James Carpinello The Punisher, Notorious [more]

"The Great Raid" just generally is well-executed, but it's particularly tense in Manila scenes involving the women, possibly because Dahl honed his chops on such suspenseful situations...It's no reflection on the ability of the actors involved, but in embodying characters who could use more distinguishing qualities, they lack the individuality that a thousand or more actors exhibited in Hollywood's heyday.  --Ed Blank Bratt is very good as the charismatic Mucci and Franco is equally good as the bookish Prince. Except for the silly love story, everything about this movie is as good as it gets. 10/10 --Tony Medley A great story filled with real heroics deserves better than this. The only thing this vestige of the Miramax nameplate proves is that Miramax had no stomach for making a fairly conventional war movie, and neither did Dahl.  --Roger Moore