Review of The Great Raid (2005) by Jonah A — 28 Dec 2006
A lame, overly patriotic film that spirals the uninteresting story of the soldiers onto the land in which the film is set on... uh... Australia?
No. It's meant to be the Phillipines, but Queensland, however tropical... is NO Phillipines.
Let's tackle the acting first... James Franco's opening monologue is contrived, and the rest of his film consists of him yawning about his blistered foot. Benjamin Bratt grumbles with a voice two tones deeper than his actual audial extraction all the while gazing at a gum tree when he's supposed to be making a God damn decision on the mission ahead of him.
Connie Nielsen shakes and shudders throughout, never really recovering from what appears to be malaria, which is ironic since her boyfriend... played by Joseph Fiennes (proving once again why he can never be like his elder brother)... is MEANT to be the one with said disease.
On the whole, the action is........ stupid. No, no positives there. The final raid is an underwhelming spray of bullets, and scared prisoners walking calmly from the damn facility. It's not smart... it's not "good stuff"... it's just a failed project about the "patriotism" of American troops.
Shame about the $90 million complete budget only getting $10 million back in the end... wouldn't want to be the sad-cock investor who wasted money on this.
This review of The Great Raid (2005) was written by Jonah A on 28 Dec 2006.
The Great Raid has generally received positive reviews.
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