Big Disappointment

Rating: 2/10 (30 September 2006)

I read the book Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, on which this movie was based, and was expecting a Saving Private Ryan level war movie. This movie stays true to the history, at least according to the book, but that is all it accomplishes. War movies often explore the dramatic aspects of war and are, as a result, usually rather moving films. This movie made a mockery of that tradition. There was no moment where I was smacked with the apparent humanity of these soldiers. The action was minimal and the movie was, among other things, flat out boring. The story itself does not have a lot of action in it, but, since Sides is a rather skilled writer, he made the story interesting without the gun play. The Great Raid fails miserably at this aspect. I would not recommend this movie to anyone.