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The Great Raid (2005) Dahl
http://http://upload.wikimedia.org/w...Great_raid.jpg
Fluff for the buff and brave
Hagiography. This film is a bland throw back to the American war movies of the 40's and 50's. One of the reasons this film caught my eye was the director; John Dahl specializes in ticking clock neo noirs and I was more than little curious what the Dahlian touch was going to do with a period war film. I think everyone was a little reluctant in taking liberties and making the material their own, for they risk treading on Hallowed ground. Since the Japanese believed that POW's were subhuman and as the American's advance approached their camp, the 500 men still alive would have been simply murdered en masse. And as they inform us during the closing credits, the Cabanatuan raid is one of the most successful raids in Army Ranger history, they were literally outnumbered a hundred to one, so the tale deserves to be known---but if the tale deserves to be told, it deserves to be told well. Which is not the case.
You know what? I'm not going to heap abuse on Dahl. I blame those clowns who call themselves screenwriters. The most telling flaw of the film is that the screenplay is totally inept. It has a made for TV feel to it, with it's excessive narration. What passes for characterization is a mention whether or not a soldier is single or if he has a ball and chain waiting at home for him. Colonel Mucci puffs away furiously on his pipe is supposed to represent the tragic burden of leadership. Seriously, would he have even packed his smoking kit on a mission as desperate as this? The audience is privy to the pre-raid briefing in which the approach to the camp, the flanking movements and suppressing fire are explained in detail and clocked to the minute, which of course, removes a lot of the suspence. The only reason for including that scene, would have been if there had been a major unforeseen snafu at the last moment which they had to radically revise the whole attack plan.
Some nice things though, like the Filipino resistence fighters. Cesar Montano is particularly good as a Filipino Captain as he stoically endures both Japanese and American chauvinism. I would actually love to see a resistence film about these people defending their home land during this time period. I liked the civilian nurse's story (Margaret Utinsky) although everytime they cross cut to her story, it was like applying the brakes to the forward momentum of the raid. Madame Utinsky is set up for some real uncomfortable up close and personal time with a Japanese interrogator; the way he slithers up behind her and strokes her from her fingertips all the way up her arms to the base of her nape intimates she'll going to be raped. But then after a couple of hours, they simply cut her down out of her stress position and let her walk out of the prison. I don't think in the history of torturing I've ever come across a case as fatuous as this. "You know what, I've misused you enough round eye, you can go. Prease don't be ritigious."
The Great Raid ~ 7/10
http://http://upload.wikimedia.org/w...Great_raid.jpg
Fluff for the buff and brave
Hagiography. This film is a bland throw back to the American war movies of the 40's and 50's. One of the reasons this film caught my eye was the director; John Dahl specializes in ticking clock neo noirs and I was more than little curious what the Dahlian touch was going to do with a period war film. I think everyone was a little reluctant in taking liberties and making the material their own, for they risk treading on Hallowed ground. Since the Japanese believed that POW's were subhuman and as the American's advance approached their camp, the 500 men still alive would have been simply murdered en masse. And as they inform us during the closing credits, the Cabanatuan raid is one of the most successful raids in Army Ranger history, they were literally outnumbered a hundred to one, so the tale deserves to be known---but if the tale deserves to be told, it deserves to be told well. Which is not the case.
You know what? I'm not going to heap abuse on Dahl. I blame those clowns who call themselves screenwriters. The most telling flaw of the film is that the screenplay is totally inept. It has a made for TV feel to it, with it's excessive narration. What passes for characterization is a mention whether or not a soldier is single or if he has a ball and chain waiting at home for him. Colonel Mucci puffs away furiously on his pipe is supposed to represent the tragic burden of leadership. Seriously, would he have even packed his smoking kit on a mission as desperate as this? The audience is privy to the pre-raid briefing in which the approach to the camp, the flanking movements and suppressing fire are explained in detail and clocked to the minute, which of course, removes a lot of the suspence. The only reason for including that scene, would have been if there had been a major unforeseen snafu at the last moment which they had to radically revise the whole attack plan.
Some nice things though, like the Filipino resistence fighters. Cesar Montano is particularly good as a Filipino Captain as he stoically endures both Japanese and American chauvinism. I would actually love to see a resistence film about these people defending their home land during this time period. I liked the civilian nurse's story (Margaret Utinsky) although everytime they cross cut to her story, it was like applying the brakes to the forward momentum of the raid. Madame Utinsky is set up for some real uncomfortable up close and personal time with a Japanese interrogator; the way he slithers up behind her and strokes her from her fingertips all the way up her arms to the base of her nape intimates she'll going to be raped. But then after a couple of hours, they simply cut her down out of her stress position and let her walk out of the prison. I don't think in the history of torturing I've ever come across a case as fatuous as this. "You know what, I've misused you enough round eye, you can go. Prease don't be ritigious."
The Great Raid ~ 7/10