The Great Raid—a film about the rescue of American POWs in the Philippines during World War II—will be shown in the Philippines starting August 10. The movie is topbilled by Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen and Joseph Fiennes. Cesar Montano plays a supporting role. Watch the trailer.
The film was produced by Miramax based on the The Great Raid: Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor by William Breuer and Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides. It was shot in Australia way back in 2002. To find out why its release has been delayed for so long, see "Miramax dusts off shelved films" by John Horn.
Advance reviews from not-so-mainstream reviewers seem to be mixed:
- "If you’re an adult and only going to see one film this year, The Great Raid should be the one." (Phil Boatwright)
- "Caught up in the real worthiness of the subject, a running time of over 2 hours unfortunately dissipates what should have been tight and concise." (Variagate.com)
- "The Great Raid probably won’t win any Oscars... I’m not a huge fan of war movies in general, but this is a class act all the way." (JE Smith).
- "Except for the silly love story, everything about this movie is as good as it gets." (Tony Medley)
- "Delayed since 2003, John Dahl's dust-collecting WWII chronicle The Great Raid finally arrives with the dull thud of a bomb that fails to detonate on impact." (Nick Schager)
- "It could’ve been an inspiring true story of heroism, but the film forgot to take the audience along for the mission." (Lee Tistaert)
