Unbroken

Unbroken - 2014

The film tells the true story of real life Olympian and WW2 veteran, Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was a bombardier aboard a B-24 Liberator, which malfunctioned and crashed into the Pacific. Most of the crew died and the survivors floated at sea for a record 47 days. They were found by the Japanese and tortured in two POW camps until the war ended. Considering this was Angelina Jolie's directorial debut, the movie was built to not fail. The cinematography was beautifu, the dramatic score was seamlessly placed in the appropriate moments and the writing was... safe. The "evil and ruthless" Japanese commander (calling himself "The Bird") threatened the POW's with promises of ruthlessness but I felt that ultimately only cliche' mustache twirling "villainy" was delivered by him. Unbroken isn't a bad movie (it's built to succeed) and certainly joins the fraternity of modern WW2 films alongside Saving Private Ryan and Fury. However, it never achieves the epic scope or intensity of those films. There is one awesome scene in the film that comes in the end though - the real life "Louie" Zamperini running through the streets of Japan at age 80 carrying the Olympic torch. That was the shit.  
Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars.  - Chris Tarride