His Will Remained "Unbroken"

Unbroken (2014)

Rated PG-13

Starring Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi,

Directed by Angelina Jolie

The Story:

Louis Zamperini (O'Connell) went from being an Olympic medalist in Berlin to a POW in World War II in just the span of a few short years. When his plane crashes in the Pacific, Louis makes God a deal that he'll dedicate his life to following God if he surives. Louis and Phil endure 47 long, arduous days on a life raft with his friend Phil (Gleeson) before they are picked up by the Japanese and interned into a prison camp. There, he receives even more punishment under the brutal reign of the camp warden (Miyavi) but Zamperini's spirit remains...

wait for it...

Unbroken.

Cheesy, I know.

But then, this movie sometimes felt the same way.

On paper, it's one of those amazing but true, true life stories brought to life by Hollywood.

In practice, it was nearly 2 1/2 hours, and you literally feel every minute of it.

Zamperini suffered at the hands of the Japanese because he was a famous athlete. He was then given a chance to broadcast that he was alive and well back to America, much to the relief of his family.

When he refused to broadcast anti-American propaganda, he was returned back to the Japanese where further brutality awaited.

Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with the story, the actors, the direction, it just seemed like it was missing some key ingredient or two to make this film feel special.

If I'm going to devote over 2 hours of my life watching a film, I need that spark to keep me interested, and sometimes more importantly with movies, wanting to come back in the future to see it again.

This one was okay, but could have, and should have been so much more.

Final Grade: C+