Unbroken (7/10)

This was an amazing story of Louis Zamperini and the series of unfortunate events he had to go through in his early adult years.

I usually would find fault in stories that rely on those series of unfortunate events to drive the plot, like Gravity, but there's no way to argue when it's based on a true story. And I thought the way the Coen Brothers adapted the story for this movie was as good as it can be.

But because of what happened, from going to the Olympics to joining the war, and then getting lost at sea only to be taken as a prisoner of war and gotten picked on by the warden to torture; so much happening in such a short period of time makes it a difficult story to tell on the silver screen.

Angelina Jolie stepped up to the challenge, however, you could see her inexperience here that hurt the movie's pacing. Though a lesser director would probably have stayed away from this project completely.

The opening sequence was done really well. I saw and experienced the inner workings of a World War II plane, to a point where I felt like I was inside it with the characters. And the flashbacks to his childhood years were also told very well, to see how Zamperini grew up and how running saved his teenage years.

When Zamperini and his friends were trying to survive at sea, the pacing dived down very quickly and stayed there for quite a while. Jolie had to create in the audience that sense of lost and dismay, and that took out a chunk of running time. But what she did well was also to show that the guys' will to survive and spirit was still unbroken.

The second half of the movie was spent in the prison camp. This was probably the better half for the movie too though we didn't get to know the other prisoners, other than only Garrett Hedlund's character.

This was my first encounter with Jolie's direction and I found that, while she has an eye for creating a shot, there's an old fashioned style that goes with it - sometimes it felt like watching the characters in a 50's movie.

Jack O'Connell was a revelation. His chemistry with Domhnall Gleeson worked best onscreen. And what Jolie had to have them go through physically and psychologically was no easy task. And then there was Takamara Ishihara, with a tall order of playing an evil and jealous character and yet not going overboard to become purely a villain.

The running time was more than 2 hours long, and it did feel that way. But this was no easy movie to tell, and I thought it was done the best way it could have been done with great performances from the cast.