Andrea's Review of "Unbroken"
Soooo...apparently you can have too much of a good thing, and it can make the most thrilling, enthralling story as dull as dishwater. At least, it's the only way to explain why “Unbroken,” a movie with names like Angelina Jolie, Laura Hillenbrand, Joel and Ethan Coen, (that's right, the frigging COEN BROTHERS), and a very talented, albeit mostly unknown actor at the center, feels so forgettable.
In case you've been living under a rock, “Unbroken” is the story of a former Olympian and WWII veteran Louis Zamperini. Not too long after he joins the Air Force and becomes a bombardier, his plane crashes in the Pacific. He and another soldier manage to survive in a life raft for 47 days before they are sent to a Japanese POW camp. It's an interesting story, and his pre-war life is pretty interesting too, what with his scuffles with the law and athletic records set and broken, just to name a few.
Then there's his postwar life, where he married, struggled with PTSD and alcoholism, and became a born-again Christian. Then he returned to Japan, where he forgave his former captors. If you wanna know more, it's glossed over in the closing titles at the end, which are actually more intriguing than the movie.
But luckily, even when you get a half-baked film that only seems interested in providing the bullet points of Zamperini's life without getting to know him, or anyone else for that matter, thus giving us no clue into what he or anyone around him is really thinking, it still can't be a complete waste of time. The story, if not the script, is just too good for anyone to completely screw it up, with the cinematography adding some much needed gravity to the horror Zamperini finds himself in. And luckily, that mostly unknown actor is Jack O'Connell, who does an incredible job with the little he is given. He is mesmerizing, heartbreaking, and charismatic, and both he and the man he plays deserve better.
Grade: C-
Then there's his postwar life, where he married, struggled with PTSD and alcoholism, and became a born-again Christian. Then he returned to Japan, where he forgave his former captors. If you wanna know more, it's glossed over in the closing titles at the end, which are actually more intriguing than the movie.
But luckily, even when you get a half-baked film that only seems interested in providing the bullet points of Zamperini's life without getting to know him, or anyone else for that matter, thus giving us no clue into what he or anyone around him is really thinking, it still can't be a complete waste of time. The story, if not the script, is just too good for anyone to completely screw it up, with the cinematography adding some much needed gravity to the horror Zamperini finds himself in. And luckily, that mostly unknown actor is Jack O'Connell, who does an incredible job with the little he is given. He is mesmerizing, heartbreaking, and charismatic, and both he and the man he plays deserve better.
Grade: C-
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