The Great Raid yearns to be epic, but the movie can’t measure up to its remarkable true story: the rescue of more than 500 American detainees from a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines during the final days of World War II. The cast is lightweight – Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes and James Franco play the most prominent grunts – while director John Dahl, best known for neo-noir dramas such as Red Rock West and The Last Seduction, brings little style to the proceedings, as if making his movie entertaining in the least would be a sign of irreverence.
