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The
Great Raid Movie Review:
“The rescue was one of the most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history,” said director John Dahl (“Rounders”). Based on two books, “The Great Raid on Cabanatuan” by military historian William B. Breuer and “Ghost Soldiers” by Hampton Sides, this gripping film highlights the heroism earned by a small band of American soldiers who participated in this incredible WW II rescue operation.
As the film opens, it’s been three years since the Japanese Imperial Army imprisoned the 500 soldiers, the only survivors of the 70,000 American and Allied forces held captive, following the departure of General MacArthur from the Philippines.
Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) at the 6th Army Headquarters in nearby Luzon, is aware that 150 U.S. soldiers at near-by camp Palawan were forced into trenches, doused in gasoline and set on fire. He’s determined to rescue the POWs at Cabanatuan, even though his men are heavily outnumbered.
Mucci assigns Captain Robert Prince (James Franco from “Spider-Man”) to lead the raid. While he and Mucci often disagree about the plan, Mucci knows that Prince is a brilliant military man. They recruit members of the Filipino resistance, led by Captain Juan Pajota (Cesar Montano), who becomes a valuable resource to the troops.
Mucci loves a good challenge, and Bratt (“Catwoman”) plays him perfectly – often so convinced his way is the only way, but clever enough to know when to give in.
At the prison, Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) is weakened by malaria but determined that his men will survive. He risks his life over and over when he smuggles in medicines from Margaret (Connie Nielsen), a Catholic aid worker who has been assisting the Filipino Underground. Margaret and Gibson are actually in love with each other, but unable to do anything about their feelings in their present situation.
Sick and malnourished Gibson is one step from the grave, but he refuses to give up. Joseph Fiennes (“Shakespeare in Love”) – who lost a lot of weight under a doctor’s supervision in order to play this key role – is remarkable in his portrayal of Gibson. His character’s human resilience and long-lasting hope are vividly and genuinely brought to the screen.
“The Great Raid” is not the typical John Dahl story, but he had an intimate connection to the story. His father, a World War II soldier, participated in the liberation of the Philippines. “My father fought in the Philippines so I was immediately attracted to the story,” says Dahl. “But it also seemed to me that this was a really important untold story from World War II that had been shuffled to the back pages and ultimately forgotten. What I really liked about this movie is that it reveals that freedom often comes with a price of sacrifice. And I also think it shows how our country has been able in the times of greatest need to really go deep and overcome huge obstacles. We did it in Cabanatuan and we will do it again when needed in the future.” Most
people who see this film will be awed by the performances
and spellbound by the depth of its story. Please let me go! I need to leave! I just can’t take it anymore.
These are probably some of the things that prisoners of war said to themselves while they endured captivity during wartime. For me, these were the things I was muttering to myself as I endured the 133 minute war-melodrama “The Great Raid”.
“The Great Raid” tells the story of America’s most successful military rescue mission of all time. For the history books, this is a great story but not always do great stories make great movies.
The film stars Benjamin Bratt stars as Lt. Colonel Mucci, the leader of a crack group of Rangers who must infiltrate a Japanese prisoner of war camp and liberate over 200 America POWs. Bratt’s Mucci is flanked by Captain Prince (James Franco) and 1st Sgt. Sid "Top" Wojo (Max Martini). Inside the camp, Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) struggles to survive as he yearns to be with his lady love some day. His beloved is Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen) who runs the Filipino underground in Manilla.
There are a lot of things about “The Great Raid” that really bugged me but I will get into those later. The minor successes that I liked about the film were the way the film was able to incorporate archive footage into the film and that we finally got to see what the real people who went on the mission looked like including Nurse Utinsky. I also liked from a historical aspect that the film included how a Filipino unit aided in this mission.
But as for the acting, direction and cinematography I was just so bored. It was like watching one of those horrid made for “History Channel” movies that they show at like 1 am. Then there was the romantic subplot that felt like I was forced to flip to “Lifetime” or “Women’s Network” television when a commercial came on.
This film feels and looks like a bad TV movie and has no real merits to rise above that stigmatism except at its core which is the film’s true story. But maybe because the mission was such a success, the film suffered from a lack of emotion and gripping suspense.
I not for one moment did I feel that anyone was in danger or that the mission was going to fail. Well this especially evident when Bratt and Franco basically sleep walk through this film. There is emotion in the performances from Fiennes and Nielsen but they seem very forced and almost the kind of emotion you feel on a soap opera.
As a
historical story, “The Great Raid” may have
been great but as a movie the only greatness I felt was
the end credits.
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