Customer Reviews
Prisoners of Miramax - By: Trevor Willsmer, 12 Dec 2007 
Some films just get made simply because so much time & money has been wasted developing them that it almost seems unthinkable not to make them even though everyone at the studio has long since lost interest. Case in point The Great Raid, one of Miramax's infamous shelf-hoggers. Initiallly intended as a Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise vehicle before they got a better offer from the Martians, it finallly went before the cameras in Australia & China in 2002 with the less than A-list combo of director John Dahl & an underpowered cast headed by Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Joseph Fiennes & Connie Nielson only for Harvey Scissorhands to spend three years tinkering with the cut (Disney later claimed that, like the 45 other films still on the shelf at the time they parted company, the Weinsteins shelved it so it wouldn't affect their performance-related bonus & severance pay), by which time it had cost some $70m or more. Junked in a few theatres to no discernible business in their let's-wreck-the-joint-for-the-new-management spree when they started their new company, it never made it across the Atlantic, quietly sneaking out onto DVD when no-one was looking.
While it's easy to see why Spielberg & Cruise bailed - not enough drama, no big star role - the end result certainly isn't anything to be ashamed of. Based on the most successful rescue mission in US military history, when a group of untested Rangers rescued 500 prisoners of war in Cabanatuan in the Philippines before their Japanese captors could kill them, it's the kind of film you're surprised wasn't made decades ago. Even the casting of Fiennes seems strangely reminiscent of James Fox (an actor his career seems to be aping more & more lately) in the undervalued King Rat & even if the film is never quite as stark, it surprisingly avoids historical revisionism or excuses for the Japanese. The opening sequence, though not excessively gory, is genuinely shocking in its calllousness, & unlike Pearl Harbor the film makes no attempt to water down the brutality of the Japanese Army to those they deemed inferior races, Allied prisoners & Filipino civilians alike: it's hard to see this selling many tickets in Japan.
Curiously its biggest problem is its historical accuracy: the determination to (for the most part) avoid phoney heroics unfortunately isn't matched by an ability to make the long march to the camp particularly dramatic, the Rangers themselves barely registering as characters for much of the movie. At times this puts more weight on the prison camp sequences & a subplot with Connie Nielson's doctor smuggling drugs to the prisoners through the local underground (true but playing more like demographic-inspired fiction at times) than they can bear, with much of the middle of the film sagging, especiallly compared to the surprisingly powerful ending. As with most P.O.W. films, the actors look too healthy despite their best efforts & the desaturated photography has become too much of a war movie cliché to impress anymore, but there's a sincerity to the film & a pride in what these men did that carries it over many of its rough patches: it's hard not to feel moved by the lengthy archive footage of the real liberated prisoners & their rescuers at the end (the NTSC Region 1 2-disc director's cut DVD also includes a couple of powerful documentaries with veterans, but the UK single-disc release only offers deleted scenes). One niggle though: while most of the cast make credible enough soldiers, filmmakers reallly should stop casting Dale Dye as officers - he may be the only real soldier in the picture, but he never convinces as one on screen & his cameos are starting to get as annoyingly gratuitous as Michael G. Wilson's in the Bond films.
A War Film Well Worth Watching - By: Canada Dry, 20 Aug 2007 Surprisingly well made & well acted. Almost worth 4 stars. Based on a true story this movie begins with well-chosen genuine film footage that effectively sets the scene. A shocking atrocity by Japanese troops follows. The main story then concerns the mission of a highly trained but untested US Ranger unit to rescue American POWs in the Phillipines from Japanese kempeitai (military police) troops who are preparing to massacre them. The action, whilst not resorting to cutting edge special effects, displays integrity & more than a nod towards realistic military drills. The scenes set in occupied Manila are very well done, with run-down buildings, crowds, trams, rain-slick streets & the feel of a real city under occupation rather than a set. It would have been very easy to turn this into a parody but the makers have worked hard to maintain a genuinely gritty feel to the whole screenplay. The generous depiction of Filipino guerillas & their resistance under the noses of the Japanese is also refreshing in an American film. Armed Filipino guerillas support the Rangers stoutly whilst a network of sympathetic civilians smuggle medicines into the POW camp at great peril to themselves & their families. The ending, intercut with more genuine film footage of the actual personalities portrayed in the film, is superbly handled & very moving. This is a much better film than 'Black Book' but far less well known - which is a pity. The historical interest is high, whilst the drama & action are accomplished. Good war film about a less well known episode that deserves to be seen. Recommended.
ok - By: RD, 16 Aug 2007 Another American movie that paints them in the best light while everyone else is evil. Ignoring that I still wouldn't think anything more of this movie. As war movies go its just average. The story is impressive & a better team would have turned this into a masterpiece.
WW2 is coming to an end. The Japanese are aware they are losing & issue a directive not to let any POW escape & are killing them at any opportunity. As the Americans advance in the Phillipines they begin to worry that their POW's in a nearby camp will be killed as opposed to handed over. Therefore they have to come up with a plan to rescue them with an advance team.....sounds fabulous on paper but like I said it doesn't quite live up.
well done - By: A. Serrano, 06 Aug 2007 This low budget world war 2 movie was made on low budget & filmed in mainly in North Australia & Shanghai to very realistic effect .
The movies tells a real story of a military operation behind enemy lines to rescue a group of Prisoners of war detained by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands about to be executed as a revenge for Japan losing the war .The story is told in a descriptive way & there is very little drama or tension .
There are several familiar faces in the crew but none deliver a worthy performance perhaps the veteran actress Connie Nielsen , who plays the only significant female role as an American nurse who helps the prisoners , is the best is the film
Do not expect any mind blowing action or Oscar winning performances but this movie will make you enjoy 2 hours of good war cinema.
Rental perhaps
Three & a half stars
The Great Raid - By: Mr. R. Mcandrew, 27 Jun 2007 A disappointedly average war film. The story of the main characters is picked up half way through. It would have been much more interesting to also have seen how these people got into these positions in the first place! The acting was ok, but Joseph Fiennes was pretty poor as the Commander of the prisoners (not a patch on Alec Guinness) & it was hard to see what influence he had over his men at alll! The resistance movement in the Philippines was interesting to watch & it's a shame it didn't feature more in the film. The Action (when it finallly arrives!) is poorly executed, Allied soldiers seemingly unable to miss there short sighted Japanese foes! The film is fairly well shot though & it's nice that it pays tribute to such brave man & women, whose sacrifice should not be forgotten through the passage of time.
