http://imdb.com/title/tt0326905/
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808404275&intl=us

Quote :

"Set in the Philippines in 1945, "The Great Raid" tells the true story of the 6th Ranger Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) who undertake a daring rescue mission against all odds. Traveling thirty miles behind enemy lines, the 6th Ranger Battalion aims to liberate over 500 American prisoners-of-war from the notorious Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp in the most audacious rescue ever."

The synopsis sounds solid. Learning about WWII is a hobby of mine so I'll definitely try to catch this in the theatre.

John Dahl directed it...same guy that directed "Rounders" which is one of my favorite movies to watch over and over again...so thats even more reassurance that this will be good.

Starring:

Benjamin Bratt
Joseph Fiennes
James Franco



[Edited on August 2, 2005 at 11:33 PM. Reason : fdg]

8/2/2005 11:30:38 PM

joseph fiennes seems to like those war movies

8/2/2005 11:47:36 PM

this was one of the first real applications that showed the effectiveness of the ranger regiment in combat....i love SOCOM stuff, and have a few friends who are rangers so i will be seeing this movie

8/2/2005 11:52:17 PM

I was excited about until I saw the part in the preview where the POW camp commandant is telling Joseph Fiennes that he knows that his girlfriend is a leader in a resistance group. As soon as I saw that I lost all hope for this being a good/realistic war movie.

And casting pretty boys like James Franco and Benjamin Bratt in a war movie doesn't help.

8/3/2005 12:35:20 PM

so i'm assuming that you think that the "female sniper" angle in "Enemy at the Gates" was bullshit huh?

wrong. i've done the research. the name of Rachel Weisz's character was an actual female sniper in WWII. so if the soviets could have female snipers...why is it so far fetched that some guy's gf is part of "La Resistance"?

8/3/2005 1:25:57 PM

i think its more the damn love story they try to stuff in these movies.

Rachel Weisz was fine in Enemy at the Gates

The love story was not

8/3/2005 2:15:02 PM

You assume wrong. Women were an important part of the Russian defense. This is well known. Congratulations on finding this out after seeing a movie.

I didn't say that it was far fetched that a woman would be a part of a resistance movement (BTW, La Resistance was in France, dipshit). It happened, and it happened a lot. However, I find it unlikely that a serviceman in the South Pacific would have found a pretty white woman to nail prior to being captured. I then find it unlikely that she would stay in the area and lead a resistance movement. I find it even more unlikely that the Japanese would find out her identity and confront her POW lover about it.

Basically it comes down to movie studios wanting to insert a love story into a film about war. This usually ends in disaster and I have low expectations for this one.

8/3/2005 2:25:58 PM

pearl harbor had great potential

but god, they fucked that movie up beyond all comparison

horrible, horrible movie....why? because they turned it into a love story. Saving Private Ryan was great...no love story. Full Metal Jacket was good....no love story. Band of Brothers was a fucking awesome series....no love story.

I see a pattern.

8/4/2005 1:38:11 AM

"La Resistance" in french means "THE RESISTANCE"

to me "THE RESISTANCE" means anybody not affiliated with the military who takes action against the FUCKING BAD GUYS IN ANY WAR.

i was making a broad generalization in another language, hence the quotation marks. if i was referring to the actual french resistance in WWII i wouldn't have used the quotes.

a movie filled with nothing but war scenes would be way too serious for its own good. thats why these film makers, they put these things in their movies called "subplots" or "fillers", stuff to give the audience a break from the action. the love story gives the girls something to enjoy.

making a movie about a piece of history and writing a historic account of it are two different things.

movies are for entertainment so their percentage is something like 50% accuracy - 50% entertainment.

history books are 100% accurate (to the author's ability) and the enjoyment you get is from the subject material.

so if you want accuracy go read the fucking book and stop bitching...or go make the movie your own goddamn self since you're so difficult to please.

^yes Pearl Harbor was great except for the love story that took up HALF THE PLOT. as long as they keep the love story a small part of the plot I'll be happy.

[Edited on August 4, 2005 at 1:44 AM. Reason : ]

8/4/2005 1:39:58 AM

yea, but when the love story takes precedence(sp?), thats when it becomes a problem

8/4/2005 1:41:10 AM

exactly

8/4/2005 1:44:58 AM

and im a voracious reader of history, which is why i guess i get ticked off when they butcher movies for entertainment's sake

8/4/2005 1:46:45 AM

Quote :

""La Resistance" in french means "THE RESISTANCE" to me "THE RESISTANCE" means anybody not affiliated with the military who takes action against the FUCKING BAD GUYS IN ANY WAR."

Oh, excuse me. I didn't realize that you were one of those few people who changed languages from english to french mid-sentence. Either that or you're a moron.

Quote :

"a movie filled with nothing but war scenes would be way too serious for its own good."

That must be why Saving Private Ryan was such a horrible movie.

Regardless, you're inital argument was along the lines of:

Quote :

"why is it so far fetched that some guy's gf is part of "La Resistance"?"

So don't try to make it seem that your beef is with me attacking the premise of the entire film.

8/4/2005 1:52:38 AM

saving private ryan wasn't awesome or anything. the first 20 minutes or whatever was incredible. the rest of the movie was predictable and generic.

8/4/2005 2:06:12 AM

if you'll read back carefully "La Resistance" was at the END of my sentence not mid-sentence. and anyway who gives a fuck what language i'm speaking in if you can understand me. you didn't so i specified what i meant.

Quote :

"That must be why Saving Private Ryan was such a horrible movie."

what i meant by war scenes was the actual BATTLE scenes, bc obviously a war movie is made up entirely of war scenes.

back to my initial argument then:

my beef is that you're making assumptions about a movie that you haven't seen yet just because they fudged the details/added a subplot in order to please a wider audience.

have you read an accurate account of this story? i haven't. maybe there really was a famous female resistance leader that was involved or she was important enough in history that they wanted to give her some sort of part so she would be remembered and this was the only way they could figure out how to incorperate her into the story.

about the love story in a war movie: was braveheart a bad movie because it had a love story? Hell no. (i am NOT saying that the love story in "The Great Raid" will be similar to "Braveheart" or that "The Great Raid" will be a good movie bc it had a love story.) Enemy at the Gates? Nope, still a good movie. In fact the love story in EATG illustrates an interesting part of the war: quite a few soldiers fell in love during that stressful time.

you could turn out to be right though. the love story could absolutley murder this movie. all i'm saying is that you can't collect until your horse has won.

8/4/2005 2:58:36 AM

I read Ghost Soldiers for my Hist of WWII class, it was really good. I havent read the other one its based on. I wonder how close they plan on sticking to the books?

8/4/2005 1:00:20 PM

bttt i'm going to try to go sometime this week.

8/14/2005 6:31:44 PM