'GREAT RAID' HEROICALLY DULL.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

THE FREEING of some 500 American prisoners of war from a Japanese camp in the Philippines near the end of World War II was the greatest rescue mission in U.S. military history.

Recounted in the recent best-seller ``Ghost Soldiers'' and, finally, the long-delayed release of the movie ``The Great Raid,'' it is inarguably a stirring tale of courage, astute planning and brilliant tactical execution.

But the film, alas, is rather too respectful of the effort, which involved a whole lot of uneventful walking on the part of the Army Rangers who made the raid, and much listless sitting around by the starving prisoners awaiting rescue.

Directed by John Dahl (``The Last Seduction,'' ``Joy Ride''), who insisted that the script present the events as accurately as possible, the film reminds us that, along with frightening violence and mighty feats of endurance, war also involves a whole lot of boredom.

A charisma-challenged cast doesn't help much on that front. Benjamin Bratt is Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci and ``Spider-Man'' sidekick James Franco is his young, well-educated strategist, Capt. Robert Prince. Bratt sucks a pipe and acts like Mucci can't change his mind (but he always does). Franco is always the guy with the reasonable argument that gets to Mucci; he has a bad foot fungus that is constantly mentioned but never serves any dramatic purpose.

Whatever they lack in personality, Mucci and Prince make up for in doggedness as they lead 121 mostly novice Rangers and Alamo Scouts 30 miles behind the Japanese lines to the Cabanatuan prison camp, where our boys have been languishing for nearly three years. Now, with U.S. forces closing in, retreating Japanese have orders to kill the remaining survivors of the Bataan Death March.

In the film's most faceted performance, Joseph Fiennes plays the commander of the POWs, Maj. Gibson. Frustratingly, malaria literally has him on his last legs, and rather than being a proactive presence he becomes a symbol of passive - very passive - resistance.

In a noble but terribly distracting effort to spread credit as wide as possible, a composite character played by Connie Nielsen, a Catholic aid worker named Margaret Utinsky, is brought in to represent the underground resistance. There's a tortured explanation as to why the Japanese allowed this Caucasian English-speaker to run about Manila unchallenged since 1942; worse, she's in love with Maj. Gibson, which only seems like a commercial contrivance.

Better is Dahl's determination to give Filipino guerrillas due credit for their part in the raid. The rescuers never could have sneaked through the heavily occupied countryside without their help. Still, Dahl generates very little suspense during this remarkable infiltration.

Once the raid commences, the action is presented in a clear and relatively exciting manner. But in this post-``Saving Private Ryan'' era, when war movies have developed much more visceral and dramatic strategies, ``The Great Raid'' plays like a film made during World War II. You have to salute its devotion to heroism, but a gripping, involving movie would have been a greater tribute.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

THE GREAT - Two stars

(R: violence, language)

Starring: James Franco, Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, Connie Nielsen.

Director: John Dahl.

Running time: 2 hr. 13 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: True story of 1945 rescue of U.S. POWs in the Philippines is probably pretty accurate - and, unfortunately, rather dull for long stretches.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Benjamin Bratt, left, and James Franco plot to free 500 American POWs during World War II in ``The Great Raid.''