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The Great Raid [DVD] [2005]

DVD ~ Benjamin Bratt

3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

RRP:	�14.99
Price:	�3.98 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over �5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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This item: The Great Raid [DVD] [2005] DVD ~ Benjamin Bratt
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	45% buy the item featured on this page: The Great Raid [DVD] [2005] 3.4 out of 5 stars (8) �3.98
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Product details

Actors: Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Robert Mammone, Max Martini, Joseph Fiennes
Directors: John Dahl
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
Language English
Subtitles: English, German, Italian, Spanish
Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number of discs: 1
Classification: 15
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 12 Jun 2006
Run Time: 127 minutes

Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

ASIN: B000F6IIBC
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 6,290 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Nearly three years after it was filmed, The Great Raid finally appeared as a welcome reminder that good old-fashioned World War II movies never go out of style. While lacking the scale, prestige, and pulse-pounding momentum of Saving Private Ryan, this fact-based war drama benefits from a back-to-basics approach to realism and a rousing rescue climax that more than compensates for the slower passages that precede it. Adapted from the books The Great Raid on Cabanatuan and Ghost Soldiers, it chronicles the five-day mission (in late January 1945) to rescue 511 American prisoners of war held by the Japanese at Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. Under the direction of neo-noir specialist John Dahl (The Last Seduction), the film's three-part structure follows the raid mission led by Lt. Col. Mucci (Benjamin Bratt); the plight of the POWs at Cabanatuan, including malaria-stricken Maj. Gibson (Joseph Fiennes); and civilian resistance in Manila as carried out by real-life hero and Gibson's (fictional) would-be lover Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen), whose effort to aid the POWs is vigilantly monitored by the enemy Japanese. In keeping with war-movie traditions, Dahl handles character and action with no-nonsense intelligence, favoring a slow build over pumped-up adrenalin. By the time the miraculous rescue is executed with critical assistance by Filpino guerillas, The Great Raid has earned its stripes, honoring the brave men who carried out the most successful rescue mission in U.S. military history. --Jeff Shannon

From the studio
Deleted Scenes

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Prisoners of Miramax, 12 Dec 2007

By	Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Some films just get made simply because so much time and 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. Initially intended as a Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise vehicle before they got a better offer from the Martians, it finally went before the cameras in Australia and China in 2002 with the less than A-list combo of director John Dahl and an underpowered cast headed by Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Joseph Fiennes and 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 and 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 and 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 and more lately) in the undervalued King Rat and 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 callousness, and 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 and 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 and 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, especially compared to the surprisingly powerful ending. As with most P.O.W. films, the actors look too healthy despite their best efforts and the desaturated photography has become too much of a war movie clich� to impress anymore, but there's a sincerity to the film and 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 and 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 really 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 and his cameos are starting to get as annoyingly gratuitous as Michael G. Wilson's in the Bond films.

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars well done, 6 Aug 2007

By	Antonio Moncayo (Zaragoza) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This low budget world war 2 movie was made on low budget and filmed in mainly in North Australia and 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 and 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 and a half stars

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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great War Movie, 28 Sep 2006

By	C. HARROP (Manchester,UK.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm surprised that some people found this movie wooden,I couldn't fault it. Its a big budget war movie that will be appreciated by anyone who likes war movies. The film, which is based on actual events, is well shot and action packed from start to finish. The WW2 Veterans of this actual raid advised on this movie and this film does those guys proud. Best war film of 2006.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A War Film Well Worth Watching
Surprisingly well made and 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. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Canada Dry

3.0 out of 5 stars ok
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. Read more

Published 23 months ago by RD

3.0 out of 5 stars The Great Raid
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... Read more

Published on 27 Jun 2007 by Mr. R. Mcandrew

4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Raid
I read the book the Ghost Soldiers, which was excellent.I was glad they made a film about it. Although the Film does not follow the book fully, i found the film was a good... Read more

Published on 25 Sep 2006 by Mr. A. R. Carr

3.0 out of 5 stars Quite an enjoyable rump!
As war movies go it has most of the ingredients for two hours of entertainment. Even though it has love interest, it isn't for the wife. Read more

Published on 1 Aug 2006 by Philip Ronald Mitcham

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