Unbroken (2014)

Greetings again from the darkness. Louis Zamperini was a true American hero and his life story is epic and legendary. The son of Italian immigrants, young Louie easily found trouble, and only the efforts of his older brother and a local police officer allowed him to discover inner strength through his talent for distance running. As a 19 year old, Louie ran in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and later enlisted in the Air Force and served as a bombardier during WWII. After a horrible plane crash, he spent a grueling 47 days adrift at sea in a life raft, until rescued/captured by the Japanese. Zamperini served as a Prisoner of War, where he was subjected to immense physical and psychological torture, until the war finally ended.

Given the true life inspirational story and the truly heroic events of its featured character, the film can best be labeled a mild disappointment. It is extremely impressive to look at, but somehow lacking in emotion … despite some excruciatingly uncomfortable moments. The film strives for the level of historic epic, yet its conventional tone and approach leave us wondering what's missing. The single most effective and emotional moment occurs in a short clip of the real Louis Zamperini running as an Olympic torch bearer at age 80 for the 1998 Olympics (in Japan!).


Jack O'Connell pours everything he has into capturing the spirit of Zamperini, and he is certainly an actor to keep an eye on. Japanese rock star Miyaki plays "The Bird" Watanabe, a sadistic POW camp commander who brutalized Zamperini, but Miyaki lacks the chops to pull off this crucial role – going a bit heavy on the posturing. The film uses the line "If you can take it, you can make it" as its rallying cry, but too many gaps are left for the audience to bridge as we watch Louie go from a punk kid to a war hero with almost mystical courage and perseverance. Other supporting work comes from Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Jai Courtney and CJ Valleroy (as young Louie).

The film begins very powerfully with us, the camera, in a propeller bomber on a run against Japanese military installations, and just as we start to enjoy the personable young crew hell breaks loose with anti-aircraft flak bursting around us and wasplike Zero Japanese fighters zooming circles around our slow bomber, strafing thru our plane's thin walls w their heavy machine guns, ripping into our machinery and men's bodies w/o warning.

Now, on the other hand, the weakest link of the movie is surely its screenplay, which is unexpectedly disappointing considering that it was written by the Coen Brothers who, by the way, aren't really known for their affectionate writing—so, a very odd and unrecognizable choice there. Unbroken is littered with saccharine, fortune-cookie inspirational lines

If Queen Jolie wanted to prove herself that she can be the great director, she did it. but in my opinion people bought the euphoria even before the movie was released. So some had high expectation. but then it was just another WW II stories. And that time I thought it would be Tarantino kind of movie. but nope. The actors are good tho. And you, Angelina Jolie Never stop making film, you and Jodie Foster are the inspiration for younger generation to be women director.

7.2/10-IMDb
49%-Rotten Tomatoes
59%-Metacritic
6.5/10-Verdict