The Great Raid - The raid was rather great, but the movie...not so much.

The Great Raid - The Great Raid tells the true story of 500 POWs that survived the Bataan Death March that were held in the Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp and the incredibly daring rescue of these POWs.

The film begins with a brief history lesson describing the circumstances surrounding the Bataan Death March and how this group of 500 prisoners arrived at this camp. The film then skips between a love story subplot of nurse Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen) and some other guy that's a POW in the camp that I can't remember right now because frankly I didn't care in the slightest about him or her. The film could've easily been edited down to around half an hour, starting at day 4 and showing a few brief shots of the preperation and planning for the raid, and then the actual execution of it.

I was bored out of my socks while watching this nurse smuggling in medicine to these POWs, sure what she was doing was noble, however, I am sure there are many, many more real-life tales of people equally as deserving of a film being made about them. Her lost-love army guy that was being held in the camp was even less interesting, as basically the audience sits there and watches him get sicker and sicker until he decides to write one of the cheesiest, sappiest letters I've seen in recent films that even made me laugh. The film would have been much more interesting if John Dahl kept the film focusing on the group of rangers that this task was assigned to, however, Hollywood films are nothing without a love story so of course this film needed one. What was even worse about this love story was that in the end, it wasn't all that moving and once you get to the end of the film, you realize it was completely pointless.

A good portion of the scenes at the camp were somewhat moving, however, there was nothing that hadn't been done much more emotional in other stories and films I had seen or read earlier, such as the scene where during a line of executions, one prisoner kneeling down is waiting to be executed while the guard takes his time reloading his gun. Yes, hearing stories like this the first two hundred times wrenched my guts a bit, but now, perhaps it's because I've been desensitized, or perhaps it's because there are much more inhumane and evil stories to be told that would make for a much more moving film, I didn't find it all that devastating or emotional. I suppose to some people this will be an eye-opening experience because, surprise! The Nazis weren't the first and only people in the world to torture their enemies in sinister ways, through out history war is littered with stories that would make your stomach turn that many people never hear about.

The planning for the actual raid was one of the most mind-numbing things I have ever watched in my life. Besides explaining everything down to the most minute detail in a scene that felt like watching a "How To" video, you actually get to see the captain drawing pictures in the dirt for everyone. While in some war films this would be very helpful as when the camera is shaking during the action, lights are flashing, and everything is blowing up it would give you a sense of what is going on, in this film it should've been left out completely. The raid itself was shot very well. There was not one point in time during the action where was I confused about what was happening, which group was doing what, or where in relation to the prisoners the camera was; it was possibly one of the most easy to follow war segments I've ever seen in a war film and it was the only real enjoyable part of the film.

Overall, I was extremely disappointed by this film. A lot of time is focused on a wasted love story, slightly below average prison camp sequences that didn't engage my emotions at all, and banal scenes involving planning the so-called "great raid." While the actual story of the rescue is fairly fascinating and every person involved should be commended and has my highest respect, this film does not do them justice. If you're itching to see a war film this summer, head to your local Wal-Mart and just pick up a copy of Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, or The Great Escape on DVD.