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Critics Consensus: Unbroken is undoubtedly well-intentioned, but it hits a few too many of the expected prestige-pic beats to register as strongly as it should.
Critic Consensus: Unbroken is undoubtedly well-intentioned, but it hits a few too many of the expected prestige-pic beats to register as strongly as it should.
All Critics (222) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (113) | Rotten (109) | DVD (2)
Unbroken is an odyssey detailing a harrowing ordeal and insurmountable odds. But this polished story feels conventional, overly long and not sufficiently involving. [Full review in Japanese]
Unbroken falls short of the epic war drama and sweeping testament-to-the-human-spirit it strives to be.
"Unbroken" is a rousing old-fashioned yarn with numerous exciting set-pieces and an uncomplicated hero you root for all the way through. It's entertaining throughout and made with a high level of technical skill.
A straightforward and entirely commendable story about the triumph of the human spirit, etc.
Given its subject, it should have been great, but it turns out to be simply good.
In a well-made, but one-note film.
The posters claim the movie is about "Survival. Resilience. Redemption," but it only gives us the first two, and the finished product is less effective because of it.
The result is the telling of a good story, but not an illuminating one.
This film, based on the biography of the same title, is lukewarm, at best.
A lacklustre and dull film about an incredibly remarkable man.
I assume that for those who have read the book, you will be disappointed in the film. For those that have not read the book, go buy it. It's most assuredly going to be better than the film.
It's all quite beautiful to look at at points, but it never indulges in the emotional weight of what's being portrayed and it manages to make this harrowing, hard-to-believe tale ... boring.
There are four storylines here and each one would've made a whole film if done originally. Instead they are crunched together, each story cribbing shorthand from other films, each played very big ... and yet you've seen it all before. And that muffles the intent. For instance, there's a direct steal from Jaws in the work. You immediately recognize the steal and watch for it to play differently, but it doesn't. You feel gypped.
Super Reviewer
"Unbroken" is a very well made film but it lacks the emotional heft one would expect. Zamperini is presented almost as a hapless, regular Joe to whom bad things randomly happen, and the primary strategy he seems to employ in the prison camps is not drawing attention to himself and not provoking his tormentors (a strategy seemingly at odds with the scenes shown from his childhood as a brash hoodlum and competitor). Very little attention is paid to showing the internal strength that got him through these terrible times. Since that internal strength is really what makes the story interesting, the film comes across as a lukewarm portrait of an everyday hero and is not very inspirational.
Ambitious, tastefully filmed, and brilliantly held together by breakout star Jack O'Connell, "Unbroken" marks Angelina Jolie's third directorial film, and although there are many positives about this film, there are also numerous negatives. Clocking in at a near 140-minute running time, the film both brushes too quickly over some of the most inspirational events, and takes it's time to get through the slower moments, to showcase the acting. These choices work in some cases, due to the great casting choices, but the film ultimately suffers from a true story that is unclear whether or not should have been "movie-fied." Angelina Jolie does a fine job directing and the Camerawork is some of the best of 2014, but it just drags too much to keep you invested for very long. Did I enjoy this film? Absolutely, but it's focus is a bit too clumsy narratively, and Visuals may take you out of the picture as well. Overall, "Unbroken" is a powerful film that misses more than it should.
A former Olympic runner is shot down during World War II and held as a POW by the Japanese. A film that is paradoxically less than the sum of its parts, Angelina Jolie's directorial effort is full of heavy-handed camera-work and short on character development. Essentially a film about men grunting and grimacing while enduring hardship, the relationship between Louie Zamperini and "the Bird," his sadistic prison warder, is woefully undeveloped. The Bird pushes Louie, and Louie endures, and each subsequent push does little to increase the drama or change the characters' dynamic. This relationship is central the film's plot, and there are too few plot events that change their interaction. Jolie shows off her sense of lighting and scenery too much for her own good, making it obvious that this is a film and archly constructed. Overall, even if Jolie had gotten out of her own way, the characters aren't compelling enough to make this a good film.
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