People are voting emotionally.

As Good As It Gets

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is a very expensive and carefully scripted scenario of a real raid staged by Army Rangers in the Phillipines towards the end of World War II. The raid was designed to liberate a prisoner-of-war camp before the Japanese could kill all the inmates. The raid was successful and the cost not as high as it might have been without the help of the Phillipine resistance.The Japanese occupation of the islands was undeniably brutal. Germans treated their prisoners relatively well, as if they were captured warriors. But for the Japanese, the code covering treatment lay not in the Geneva Accords or, for that matter, in Bushido. The traditional warrior's code usually called Bushido varied a great deal over time. Earlier versions counseled patience and mercy. The Japanese militarists had subverted Bushido and turned it into an ideology in which all conquered people were characterologically inferior. The result was described to me by a friend who had grown up in Ilo-Ilo. "The river was filled with heads." The producers shot the film in swampy northern Australia and the city scenes in Shanghai. The period detail is impeccable -- right down to the herringbone pattern of the GI fatigues and the leather (not rubber) soles of their boots. The action scene is believable if confusing. It all rather resembles "Saving Private Ryan", which is understandable in view of SPR's success: a small elite unit sneaking through enemy territory on an important, life-saving mission. I suppose many other films would qualify too -- "The Guns of Navarron," "The Professionals," et al.But there are problems with both the writing and the performances. It's not one story but three: (1) the mission led by Benjamin Bratt to rescue the prisoners; (2) the misery of the captives; and (3) the true experiences of a nurse, played by Connie Nielson, living in Manila on a forged passport.The film is too long and seems sluggish. Way too much time is spent on the prisoners, whose abject despondency, if not taken for granted, could have been sketched in more briefly while remaining just as compelling. The nurse's story could have been dispensed with. As it is, a fictional romance is constructed to link her to the prisoners.Joseph Fiemannes must have lost a lot of weight because he looks extremely drawn, but again, too much time is spent with him for no discernible reason except that he's a movie star. At least his malaria is shown for what it is -- a crippling and sometimes lethal disease that involves more than a spasm of shivers.I enjoyed Benjamin Bratt as Detective Ray Curtis on "Law&Order". He was just relaxed enough in his role. Unfortunately, the role of commander of this raid requires a character with more power. My God, imagine George C. Scott! Bratt's money scene is when he gives his Rangers a pep talk, and the scene wilts as he recites his lines.Another problem, not an uncommon one, is that few of the other faces are familiar, and in their dark, sweat-stained uniforms and fatigue caps they're hard to tell apart. No particular performance stands out in any way except, perhaps, that of the Japanese major played by Motoki Kobayashi, a handsome and convincing but humorless officer. The director had a hell of a time getting the Japanese to be brutal but finally persuaded them by explaining they were playing soldiers who were "just following orders." It may not have worked in Nurenberg but it worked in Australia.

The main strength of this movie is being based on real events and names. The plot, however, is uneven, with a few intertwined story-lines with unequal weight and smoothness: preparation for liberation, life in POW camp, resistance activities, liberation itself. Following all this, we see many similarities with approaches from e.g. The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Thin Red Line, Pearl Harbor - and without upgrade or distinctive twists... There are some protracted and arid scenes, tensions tend to decrease at times. The cast is even, both no prevailing performances; Marton Csokas as Capt. Redding and Connie Nielsen as Margaret Utinsky seemed most interesting to me.All in all, an okay war movie, but no great experience. I would recommend the ones named above instead.

After the American evacuation of the Philippines following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, thousands of American servicemen were abandoned to the Japanese enemy, finding themselves facing brutal conditions in Japanese POW camps, and feeling forgotten by their country. "The Great Raid" is the portrayal of a rescue mission to save five hundred of those POWs at the Cabanatuan camp before they're killed by their captors, as the Americans begin to close in during the closing days of the war.As far as I can recall there haven't been very many movies depicting conditions in Japanese POW camps. "Bridge On The River Kwai" springs to mind, but this is the only other one I think I've come across. It's always hard to judge the accuracy of how the enemy is portrayed in a movie like this. In this case, though, we do know that the Japanese were in fact brutal captors. Surrender was the ultimate dishonour, and prisoners, therefore, were seen as deserving of neither honour nor respect. The conditions portrayed in the camp, therefore, were believable and probably historically accurate.The portrayal of camp conditions is one of the highlights of the movie. The other is the actual raid carried out. It was portrayed in great detail and, again, in a very believable way. The basic problem with this movie, though, is that it repeatedly seems to get bogged down. Frankly, when the movie strays from those two subjects it just isn't that interesting, and all the various sidebars end up making this longer than it needed to be. The character of Margaret Utinski (played by Connie Nielsen) was especially problematic. Utinski was a real person - and a winner of the Medal of Honour - but there are historical questions about her life, and there was certainly no romance involved in her actions, as is suggested throughout the movie. Aside from Nielsen, the cast were fine, but in all honesty no one stood out to me as outstanding. As I've suggested, there are certainly aspects of this movie that make it worthwhile viewing, but it certainly can't be mistaken for a masterpiece. (6/10)

I was disappointed by this movie. It seemed like one overacted, trite scene after another. I really was waiting for someone to put their wrist to their forehead and gaze off into the distance in dramatic pose, a la the silent movie era actors. All the other elements were present- good actors, cinematography wasn't bad, great story as background- but the poor script and overacting never let it get off the ground, no tension ever builds, there is absolutely no character development whatsoever, and the movie drags on towards an ending. I think this is more of a drama/chick flick than a war movie, or even adventure tale. There are plenty of much better war movies out there, don't waste your time with this one as I had a hard time just writing ten lines about it.