6/10
Entertaining adventure film.
15 September 2002
"Yamashita" is the story of an old Filipino. In 1944 he witnessed how the Japanese invaders hid a giant treasure on an island. Now he's living in the US and gets kidnapped by people who want him to find the treasure. The man's grandson is also involved. There are a lot of sub-plots that I don't want to reveal but I can say that the movie is well done. It is an entertaining mix of war movie, adventure plot and patriotic melodrama. Sounds cheesy. Well sometimes it is ...

But overall, it entertains. The similarities to "Pearl Harbor" that are mentioned in a previous comment are limited to one sequence. You see the Japanese planes attack the Philippines - and some shots seem right out of "Pearl Harbor". But that's about it. The rest really centers around that treasure and the modern day hunt for it.

Pros: Good special effects, multi-country involvement (gives it a wordly feeling) and lots of flashbacks. Cons: Slow first third, some big logic holes, some bad dialogue. And an ending that is rather cheap. The worst part was where the rebels left behind their hostages to participate in a patriotic duty - it's meant well, but it translates badly. Overall, I'd rate it

6/10
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