The Great Raid
User Score
8.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 50 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 50
  3. Negative: 7 out of 50

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  1. gib
    Aug 20, 2005
    3
    I had been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since I heard about it since the real story behind it is so compelling. Alas, I must report that I was somewhat dissappointed with the final product. When I think Bataan Death March POWs, I do not think "romance", but in some assinine appeal to women, they threw a love story into the movie and that just turned me off. I wanted to hear the story about the men who endured such horrible circumstances and the men who tried to rescue them, not watch some ahistorical B-rate love story. I can understand them trying to use the love story as a way of giving depth to certain characters, but they just didn't pull it off well at all--and it just made the movie drag on. Worse, the concentration on the love story seemed to take away from the character development of other key persons--such as one POW who seemed determined to try to escape. As it was, this character just seemed like a caricature. Aside from the love story, the rest of the movie was ok, with the action sequence of the raid itself being pretty good. There was a fair amount of cliche'-ish war-movie type dialogue (actually, now that I think about it some more, there was a whole lot of cliche'ish dialogue) and some of the background music seemed like it was stolen from Saving Private Ryan (and possibly The Shawshank Redemption). All in all, I think Hollywood screwed up what should have been an incredible movie about an incredible event. The best part of the movie is actually the closing credits. Not one person in the almost full theater I attended got up to leave while the credits were rolling. (I won't spoil what happened during the credits in case anyone goes to see the movie).… Expand
  2. DanielC.
    Aug 9, 2005
    3
    It's boring, tedious, and unengaging. It's a shame that with a setting rife with emotions and real stories, the director and first-time screenwriters couldn't create any character to care about.
  3. IanD.
    Jan 14, 2006
    1
    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...
  4. Spriggangirl
    Oct 20, 2007
    2
    I only watched the movie just to see Jackson! That was about it... Nothing else.
  5. MarkS.
    Aug 13, 2005
    2
    No one is arguing the importance of this historical story, however, the movie sucked. The screenplay was so horribly written, and the movie lacked any immersion that is necessary for a time-period film. What this story really needed was a Spielberg, Stone or Howard to give it what it deserved - a well portrayed, engrossing film of this great historic moment.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 29
  3. Negative: 5 out of 29
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    50
    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.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    40
    This overlong march will bore all but the most nobly patriotic.
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Mark Holcomb
    40
    The Great Raid is ultimately scotched by History Channel–worthy nostalgia.
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