Don't Expect Too Much

Rating: 1/10 (27 August 2005)

The Great Raid is by far one of the worst films I have seen this year. It is told in a very formulaic way where you can expect what happens next quite easily. Director John Dahl fails miserably to put into perspective the story by giving us just the token scenes of abuse, death, destruction and rescue. He fails to connect the viewer to the P.O.W.s plight in the Japanese internment camps and instead tries to give us a very sanitized version of the events that happened during the waning days of the war. He also tries to intermix into the story a love angle between one of the prisoners and a woman who works as a nurse by day and a guerilla leader by night. There is just no connection with any of the characters in this film. It felt hastily done and low budget. In my opinion, it could have been done better by putting more emphasis on character development and not just going through the motions of telling the story. Examples of films with low budgets but were done exquisitely and told beautifully are the anti-war films "A Midnight Clear", "Saints and Soldiers" and the HBO original "When Trumpets Fade"
On a positive note, Filipino actor Cesar Montano proves his mettle to an international audience by providing a respite from the wooden performances of his Hollywood co-actors. He manages to make the most of the token scenes given to him & comes out with a stellar performance and even achieves to steal some fire from his scenes with James Franco and Benjamin Bratt.