The Great Raid

cast: Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco, Cesar Montano (woo!)

The good: delivers on a story-telling level
The bad: the romantic subplot
World War II films happen about as often as sleeping, so it takes a special kind of film to stand out from the sea (or rather, ocean) of WWII-based features. The Great Raid fits the bill for an enjoyable, thoroughly engaging, if a bit slow-paced, offering in a not-so well known period of the war: the great raid on Cabanatuan, Philippines.

Over 500 American POWs (prisoners of war) are being held in a small, lightly guarded compound near the local battle frontline. The American forces have landed anew and are preparing to once again liberate the country. The Japanese realize their imminent defeat and are prepared to dispose off of any remaining prisoners in their camps. Intelligent sources place the planned liquidation in about a week (when the Americans break through the frontlines), so a plan is quickly set into motion to rescue the American captives.

Leading this effort is Lt. Colonel Mucci (Benjamin Bratt), commander of apparently the best Ranger unit in the country. Capt. Prince (James Franco), meanwhile, is the young hotshot who planned the whole effort. These two are fine actors and their respective performances in the film are notable and worthy of mention. But their physical appearances betray the characters that they portray. For instance, Bratt looks too Filipino, and in a film set in the Philippines (though not actually shot here) with Filipino characters and actors, it’s hard to take his character seriously. Perhaps someone like Bruce Willis would have played the part more convincingly, acting wise or otherwise. James Franco suffers from almost the same flaw. His character is supposed to be the brains behind everything, yet there are so many scenes where he is shown to be indecisive and unsure of himself. He’s confused as to the methods and ideology of his long-time mentor, Lt. Col. Mucci. As a result, it becomes all the more hard to have a connection with his character. Furthermore, Franco looks much too young and clean for this sort of film, as was Bratt, actually. Perhaps a little dirt in their faces could have helped.

The film also shows the events happening inside the Japanese prison camp with the most senior American soldier there, Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes), with his close aide Captain Redding (Marton Csokas) getting the prime focus. Redding, however, becomes a major distraction, not because of Csokas (who is always terrific), but rather his unusual dedication in keeping hopes alive for the romantic link between Gibson and Margaret Utinsky, an American nurse in Manila who just happened to be a leader of a local underground resistance group, whose aims are to steal vital medicine from the hospitals and smuggling it to the POW camps. There’s a backstory as to their past but it’s as thin as onion paper. Going back to the character of Redding, his only use in the film seems to be to further sell the connection between the aforementioned characters. The love subplot is useless (and boring) enough, why put more fuel in its fire? But lovey-dopey things aside, the best dramatic moments actually happen in the prison camp scenes with Gibson increasingly getting weaker (he gets stricken with malaria) while still trying to get his men under control.

This wouldn’t be a WWII film without a healthy ration of battle scenes, and while the action seems confined to the last parts, they were better that way as they allow everything to be set in position first. The final raid itself is enjoyable, providing high-tension excitement after the long wait, but it reminded me a bit of Filipino action films wherein a small band of fighters surprisingly defeats a seemingly idiotic army of much greater numbers. True, everything was done according to the historical records of the raid, but the implementation itself could have been less straightforward.

Essence-wise, though, the Great Raid is a true accomplishment, delivering the story of an oft-ignored theater of the war with a high emotional overtone and feel-good sentiments. It could have been more effective (perhaps with someone like Spielberg on board) and it could have used more editing effort, but nonetheless, every Filipino should see this film, even though Cesar Montano’s part was a bit too small. (3/5)

Medal of Honor: European Assault

The good: still fun
The bad: extremely short
Being a fan of the Medal of Honor franchise in its various incarnations (PS1, PS2, PC), I expected a lot from this new title. And while Medal of Honor: European Assault plays well, it’s bogged down by a lot of elements not characteristic of this last generation of high-profile PS2 titles.

The first thing that you’ll notice upon arriving in the main game screen is the John Williams-esque moody music. Too bad though because the rest of the game doesn’t live up to this initial impression. The graphics here are just barely above the average with characters and scenery appearing out of nowhere. It doesn’t help that the design of the levels doesn’t bode well either. The biggest offender for me though is the erratic frame-rate which provides hysterically funny moments of Nazi soldiers seemingly floating from one point to another. Of course, the humor ends when you face a blank screen indicating your death as enemies become nigh impossible to target during these situations. Speaking of dying, expect to die a lot because your character can’t take too many hits and because of the aforementioned frame-rate problem. Fortunately, the game is fairly easy to finish even when trying to accomplish all objectives (which, if you’re a seasoned FPS vet, shouldn’t be of any problem). Level design is pretty linear even with franchise-new wide-open environs. You also get to issue basic commands to a group of up to 3 soldiers and the checkpoint system has been scratched in favor of health packs and revives. The changes though are mostly cosmetic as they don’t affect greatly the tried-and-true Medal of Honor playstyle.

For fans of the series or the genre in general, MOH: European Assault is a good buy. But if you’re expecting something new or groundbreaking, or something which will take a long time to play (you’ll finish this in less than 5 hours), then you might want to hold your breath for a while. (3/5)

Crash

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Brendan Fraser

The good: hugely dramatic
The bad: nothing really
Los Angeles, California sets the stage for a tearfully emotional human drama about the uneasy co-inhabitance of whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians in Crash. The film is a brave and in-your-face portrayal of what happens down under behind the glitz and glamour usually associated with the city. Crimes, police harassments, discrimination, racial prejudice – all are fair game as the director skillfully weaves a tale of several interconnecting stories as they “crash” with one another.

It’s rare to see a film which sets out to showcase a touchy subject, especially a subject as touchy as racial harmony in, of all places, the racial amalgamation that is Los Angeles. Usually, movies that do attempt to take a sensitive issue as its subject matter takes a less than heroic path and dummies down the essential events or concepts so critical to that subject matter so that it won’t alienate the other side of the spectrum. However, when this happens, the film loses or drastically mutes the message it wanted to communicate. Thank heavens for the, I’m imagining, moon-like guts of the director, scriptwriter, and the whole production staff for presenting this sordid, but real, story in the manner in which it is most effective: brave and unadulterated.

At its very core, the film tells us that the stereotypes undermining Los Angeles -- white police brutality against blacks; Asians being preyed upon; black dominance on crimes; gangs and violence -- are actually there for a reason; that they do happen and they do exist. The important element though is that the characters are human. They have families, ambitions, personalities, and yes, even prejudices against one another. And with a cast featuring some of the best actors in Hollywood (both recognizable and unrecognizable) working with a honest-to-goodness script, the film strikes at the very heart of its viewers, evoking in them guilt and regret, happiness and joy, realization and deeper understanding.

Crash is a damn fine human drama. It tells its story and doesn’t skimp on any of the important elements. Definitely one of the best films of the year. (5/5)

The Machinist

Cast: Christian Bale

The good: Christian Bale
The bad: no impact whatsoever
If you were asked by the director to lose half of your weight in order to play a role, would you do it? Well, that is what Christian Bale did to play Trevor Reznik, an insomniac who hasn’t slept for more than a year. Why hasn’t he slept? The movie tries to explain…

Going back to Christian Bale’s uber-passionate (or ridiculous, you be the judge) dedication to his craft, he indeed lost over half his weight so that he may appear almost like a skeleton of his original self. Take note that his role in this film preceded his portrayal of Batman in the recent hit Batman Begins, and considering his muscular stature in that film, it’s amazing the tenacity of this guy. But all these things aside, his physical appearance is actually one of the film’s only highlights. Perhaps without the scarily horrific appearance of Bale, the film wouldn’t be half as effective in telling its story.

Not that the story is any effective, really. The Machinist is basically a suspense/thriller about Trevor who may or may not be the subject of a conspiracy. You see, things start getting out of the ordinary and pretty soon, Trevor finds himself trapped in a world where everything doesn’t seem as they appear. Of course, this premise is ruined by the hugely flawed directorial effort. Even at its early stages, the “plot” becomes obvious and by movie’s end, where everything is given light, I already became disinterested.

Too bad, because Christian Bale went to such great lengths in order to breathe more life in this film. If it had been me who lost half of my weight and starred in this movie, then I may not have gained back the weight I lost. (2/5)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

cast: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore

The good: the weird Tim Burton style
The bad: lacking in dramatic charge
Tim Burton is probably Hollywood’s most eccentric filmmaker, credited for weirdly distinctive films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and the upcoming Corpse Bride. Thankfully, he brings his usual charming (some say psychedelic) style to his latest, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Charlie (Freddie Highmore) is “the luckiest boy on earth” after winning one of the five golden tickets giving pass to the most famous chocolate factory in the world. Charlie is just a regular boy. In fact, maybe less than regular as he lives with his extended family in a house resembling the Leaning Tower of Pisa and eats only cabbage soup. The factory is owned by Willy Wonka (Johhny Depp), a world-renowned genius candy maker, who closed his factory not a long time ago when some of his workers sold trade secrets to rival companies. “Have you ever seen a single person coming into that factory, or coming out?”, said one of Charlie’s relatives. We would later come to know that the workers aren’t the usual.

The film is hugely interesting up until this point, prior to their entry in the factory. Five kids with one guardian each are given a tour of the chocolate factory by Willy Wonka himself. Strangely enough, the film goes downhill from here. Given the title of the film, it’s strange to see less of Charlie and very little, actually, of the much-hyped factory. The factory is indeed strange, wonderful, and magnificently brought to life by Burton’s imagination, but its play in the overall impact of the film seems small. Adding to the problem, the tour inside the factory becomes formulaic as there’s an obvious pattern on what’s going to happen next. As all the other kids except Charlie fall one after another due to their own inherent character flaws, we notice their cardboard cut-out nature.

The movie, despite an unmistakably kiddy aesthetic, is actually quite dark in its theme and in its events. You won’t notice it with all the color and the crazy ideas (cotton candy made from sheep wool, anyone?), but I don’t think a young girl being harassed by a group of squirrels spells the word K-I-D-D-Y.

Despite the formulaic nature of the film, it could have been tremendously enjoyable still if there was any semblance of concrete message behind it. This message, considering the target audience for the film, could have elevated its dramatic impact, but with nary a memorable dramatic moment, the film becomes a garbage bin of small, scattered, and under-developed lessons haphazardly thrown together. When the most memorable line goes, “Its candy, that’s why it doesn’t have a point”, it makes the whole experience all the more forgettable.

All in all, the film is still much better than your usual factory tour. Don’t expect too much beyond what is initially offered, and you’d have a pretty good time. (3/5)