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Great Raid, The
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 45 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Drama | War
Written by:
Carlo Bernard
Doug Miro
William B. Breuer (book The Great Raid on Cabanatuan)
Hampton Sides (book Ghost Soldiers and additional material)
Directed by: John Dahl
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 12, 2005
DVD: December 20, 2005
Running Time: 133 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Australia
Summary
RATING: R for strong war violence and brief language
Starring Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Robert Mammone, Max Martini, James Carpinello, Mark Consuelos, Craig McLachlan, and Freddie Joe Farnsworth
From director John Dahl comes the stirring true story of one of the most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: "the great raid on Cabanatuan," the daring exploit that would liberate more than 500 U.S. Prisoners of War in the face of overwhelming odds. A gripping depiction of human resilience, the film vividly brings to life the personal courage and audacious heroism that allowed a small but stoic band of World War II soldiers to attempt the impossible in the hopes of freeing their captured brothers. (Miramax)
Also On Metacritic
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Tribune Michael Esposito
The action is brilliant, the combat sharp and rattling, and the film follows the historical record more closely than most Hollywood films.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The Great Raid is perhaps more timely now than it would have been a few years ago, when "smart bombs" and a couple of weeks of warfare were supposed to solve the Iraq situation. 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.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Lacks the visceral sweep of "Saving Private Ryan." But Spielberg's story, for all its gut-wrenching intensity, was a fiction. Dahl's movie, slower in pace and conscious of its own artifice, addresses the same issues of courage and sacrifice - and tells a true story. That's worth something. In fact, it's worth a lot.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
While one might have wished for a better movie, and a few smarter decisions regarding the screenplay, generally it's a riveting, even inspirational account of an American feat of arms about which few know but about which many more should.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The film is much better as a ticking-clock action picture than as a story of human emotions, be they romantic, altruistic or base. So it's too bad that we have to wait so long for the actual raid to begin. When it does, it's a cracker.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Truth be told, the film is routine: the kind of one-note war movie that Hollywood used to crank out by the dozens every year in the 1950s.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The rousing success of the final 45 minutes cannot entirely counterbalance the stumbling uncertainty of the first 90 minutes.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The Great Raid amounts to a noble failure. This is sad news for those of us who remain hopelessly partial to Dahl's mean streak. The failure we can live with. It's the noble part that will never do.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Not a great movie, but it certainly does justice to the great historical event it dramatizes.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
With material like this, Samuel Fuller or David Lean might have fashioned an epic war movie for the ages, chock-full of hard-boiled characters and against-all-odds heroics. But in John Dahl's hands, The Great Raid never really lives up to its name, delivering everything you might expect from such a movie, but not an ounce more.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Benjamin Bratt lacks the dynamism one would expect of the commanding officer of a U.S. Rangers rescue unit; James Franco, however, is solid in the less flashy role of the mission's mastermind, and as the POW leader Joseph Fiennes manages to be heroic while prettily languishing from malaria.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
This is a creditable but disappointingly draggy war epic. It should sizzle like a fuse, but instead plods along with methodical deliberation.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Joel Selvin
The Great Raid tells its story without irony, perspective or any leavening that would make it something other than an ordinary military-action caper.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The picture's broad outline may be fact, but everything inside gets painted in a deep shade of bogus.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
The film brings a spectacular but little-known chapter of World War II to the big screen with meticulous attention to period detail -- and almost none to compelling narrative.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
This is a movie for people more interested in the subject matter than its dramatic presentation.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
When it comes to World War II movies, you may never have seen one like this before -- if only because it's like three different movies at the same time.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The Great Raid cries out for the kind of B-movie industriousness that Dahl brought to his early, low-budget films noirs (Kill Me Again, Red Rock West and The Last Seduction), but instead it has dreams of sugarplum Oscars dancing in its head, and never stops mistaking spectacle for the truly spectacular.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
For all its noble intentions, its striving for authenticity, its unblinking look at the savagery of war, The Great Raid is far more dutiful than dramatic.
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Characterizations are rudimentary, performances dull.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
A plodding, squeaky-straight Time-Life tribute to the greatest generation, the movie plays like a commemorative plaque.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
This overlong march will bore all but the most nobly patriotic.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Mark Holcomb
The Great Raid is ultimately scotched by History Channel–worthy nostalgia.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Just about any golden age Hollywood hack could have made a zestier drama about one of the greatest rescue missions in U.S. military history.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
I hereby award the World War II drama The Great Raid a Cement Star for faithful and distinguished service to the cause of mediocrity.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown
The main problem? Raid lacks a center. It's an exhausted sprawl with multiple story foci, none of them terribly compelling.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
A tedious World War II epic that slogs across the screen like a forced march in quicksand.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Like the infamous Japanese water tortures of WWII, Dahl’s film is a steadily mounting series of pesky nonevents paced with all the frenetic, action-packed verve of a wounded lawn sprinkler.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 45 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Spriggangirl gave it a2:
I only watched the movie just to see Jackson! That was about it... Nothing else.
Jerk Guy gave it an8:
Simple truth, what do critics know? I guess all that matters is how you felt when you watched it, I heard that this film was really bad so I never bothered to go out of my way to see it, however I stumbled upon it on cable recently and I didn’t think it was that bad, it’s just been overly and harshly bashed by critics because it seems to be the cool thing to do. The entire film felt really organic to me, it didn’t seem to over glorify anyone person, it felt like pure reality and honesty, our whole lives are all just small stories adding up to the bigger picture, I felt that the raid scene especially attributed this, you can’t really argue with the story line because that’s what happened, but I am always a fan when films tell it like it is and when this is the case I tend to disregard other elements of the film.
David Z gave it a9:
This is one of the examples that most movie critics got it wrong. Their comments and evaluations became formulaic and predictable.
Jared B. gave it a10:
The fact that some critics gave this movie such harsh reviews lets me know that some people just don't know a great movie when they see it. Sure, it could have been at least 10 minutes shorter. However, despite the length, this is a stunning, action-packed retelling of the most successful rescue operation ever attempted by a U.S. military outfit. An excellent film.
Steve C. gave it a9:
For those who said it didn't have enough action, whether reviewers on this site or actual 'professional' reviews, I must acknowledge my pity for your ignorance. It must be unfortunate to live with that frame of mind. I guess this movie was a little too real for you. Its sad that our society is so basic that we desire the action scenes to fulfill our dull lives. Perhaps if you realized what reality is ... not the reality that Hollywood spews out, but the reality that actually exists now, and throughout history, you'd have a glimmer of understanding about what this movie was really about. Its purpose wasn't to entertain you're simple mind - it was a basis of actual events, as a lot of modern war movies are. This one seemed to be a little closer to what actually happened - not the bastardized version that Hollywood usually vomits out. The original footage was the pinnacle of this film, and its use throughout is what pulled everything together. The style of this movie brought the best of old and new war movies. But unlike "Pearl Harbour," this movie didn't try and be all things to all people. It didn't try and bring in romance as one central theme. That's not the purpose of this movie. Special effects, to the same extent, wasn't the cornerstone of this film. This was a very accurate representation of documentary style war-telling, albiet in movie format. The performances herein, whether part of the conflict or on the side, as part of the resistance were well rounded, and lacked the superficiality that I imagined would exist in a movie like this. The acknowledgement of the resistance forces, in this conflict specifically was important, but the pinnacle of a war movie to acknowledge that forces other than military were important in winning this war. I invite all those who have any level of intellect or knowledge about this war or conflict specifically to watch this movie. If its too real for you, go back to your simple-minded action flicks and leave this movie to those it was meant to affect.
Ian D. gave it a1:
I give it a one because it's a true story. Otherwise, the pacing was slow, the story was scattered and James Franco's acting can be compared to a stone wall, lifeless. No wonder this sat on the shelf for two years...if it was any good, they would've released it back in 2002. Think about that...
Eric S gave it a10:
Never (at least in my experience) have professional critics been so wrong about a movie. I watched this film late at night out of sheer boredom, expecting nothing more than another mediocre account of a well-known historical event. However, this was not the case at all. "The Great Raid" rises above most other war movies because it views it is so faithful to what really happened. It isn't just an excuse to tell some sappy, typical Hollywood drama that the critics seem to love so much. It is a true account of what happened, filled with real battles and real people. The acting was superb all around (as good as he was in "Spider-Man", I didn't think James Franco could play such a serious role), thanks to the absence of any big- name, no-talent actors or filmmakers. Everyone should see this movie, especially now when so many people view Americans as the bad guys. Just because the critics can't appreciate an excellent movie that doesn't force some corny, liberal message down the audience’s throat doesn't mean it should go unseen.
