Review of Unbroken (2014) by Arun G — 27 Mar 2015

A decent movie that could have been GREAT! The film's biggest flaw is that it fails to develop Louis Zamperini as a character. We don't really get a good idea of what is going on in his mind or what makes him unique, and because of that it is harder to care about what happens to him. The movie would have greatly benefited for an additional 30 minutes in the beginning to show more of Zampererini's life before the plane crash, so we could get a clearer idea of his relationships with his family and friends and what his personality would be like when he's not being beaten repeatedly. I also think the movie should have gone into more detail about his life after the rescue, including him eventually to forgiving his captors. That is an interesting aspect of Zamperini's story that would have made this movie stand out more from the gazillion other "triumph of the human spirit" movies.

The movie is filled with a lot of the bio-pic cliches including our protagonist getting bullied as a kid and learning a lesson from it, inspiring (cheesy) dialogue thats designed to be as quotable as possible, sentimental flashbacks, etc.

Despite all of this, there are some good things about the movie. The cinematography is gorgeous. I don't know how if Angelina Jolie did any filming herself, but this is a great looking movie. The sequences on the raft were pretty good (probably the best part of the movie because it had characters talking and showing some personality). Wantanbe is a terrific villain, and the scenes between him and Zamperini have enough tension to keep you invested in what is happening.f.

In the end, this movie should have either focused on just one aspect of Zamperinini's life, or it should have taken an extra hour (or have been a miniseries) to tell everything. As it is, Unbroken is a shallow movie that tries to hit all of the major points in Zamperini's life without willing to dig deep enough to leave much of an impact.