Tension and urgency

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2005)

The great escape, with all of its fame, winds up being quite a disappointment for me. There is just no emotional attachment to any of the characters from this movie. The Germans allow the prisoners wonder around, the whole prison camp feel more like a summer camp than a WWII prison camp. The work camp in the movie "holes" was 10 times tougher on its residents than this prison camp, and that was only a juvenile correctional camp. The entire movie seem to be constructed to build the "hero" characters portrayed by McQueen. There're so many people here proclaim this is Steve McQueen's best work. Well I am not very familiar with Steve McQueen, but his acting job, while completely competent, sure is nothing to write home about. The entire movie is unnecessarily lengthy and drawn out while at the same time completed devoid of the spirit of the brave men keeping their fight going even under imprisonment. It feels more like a teen schemed, prank fest than a epic tale of heroism. Someone here stated this is as much of a WWII movie as "Saving Private Ryan". I say comparing this movie to saving private Ryan is like comparing a Saturday morning cartoon to Shakespeare.