The Great Raid - Limited Spoilers Involved.

Well I just got back from seeing the film. I would give it a B+.

The movie covered the raid from 3 different perspectives. The Rangers planning for the raid, the prisoners in the camp, and a group of filipinos smuggling food and medicine into the camp.

The acting was good and believable, but not great. I thought that the somewhat unheroic dialogue actually helped give the movie a more realistic edge.. real soldiers dont sit around talking about how great and important their mission for the day is - or at least thats what ive gathered.

The movie was fast paced, only stopping briefly for reflection. The action, while limited, was very well done.

I particularly liked how they portrayed the japanese atrocities. You cannot have a movie about that raid without showing how horrible the men were treated, but it was not overly graphic to the point of being gratuitous like in some other movies. The director got the point across about how bad the men had it without having the movie turn into the passion of the Christ. (However, there were two scenes of mass executions, but they were tastefully done - as tastefully as you can do a mass execution. ~:eek: )

Also, if you are into planning and tactics, you'll be pleasantly surprised. The movie dealt with that a lot. It wasnt simply "Were going to rush in there and take the prisoners".

The historical accuracy seemed to be really well done. All the people had the right guns, the Black Widow was there, and there were no corny heroics. (ala Windtalkers. ~:rolleyes: ) The only inaccuracies I saw from my limited experience with the subject was the overuse of tanks. There were tanks everywhere, including the camp! Hell, maybe there were tanks in the camp, i dont know for sure - but it would seem like a serious misallocation of resources to have battle tanks stationed to defend feeble prisoners, especially with the limited supply of armor the japs had.

Finally, dont let the "love story" turn you away. This is no Pearl Harbor. In fact, I wouldnt even call it a true love story as the two love interests never saw each other. I would even go so far to say that the love story only added to the plot and made the story deeper.

Overall, Ive seen better war movies, but not many. Although its a little slow in the beginning, this movie entertains while being very accurate - well, for hollywood's standards. After thinking it over, id even go so far as to give it an A-. ~;)