When more is less.

Rating: 4/10 (25 December 2014)

How was it possible to make such an compelling and inspiring life story into such a boring movie despite sharks and torture? Go figure.
'Lifeboat' with Tallulah Bankhead was filmed almost entirely in a lifeboat and was much more interesting than the life raft scenes in this movie which felt like twice the length of the other movie.
Bridge on the River Kwai took place almost entirely in a POW camp and same comparison I made above could apply with this tedious hour or more of torture and abuse that was also boring.
And how did the lead character not have a full beard after 47 days at sea. His haircut looked the same throughout his adult scenes except for being messy at times. Did his hair stop growing? The movie seemed flat and 2 dimensional. There were only 2 moments that evoked any spark of emotion or interest in me- when he was in church as a young boy and got slapped upside the head for not paying attention and the epilogue at the very end showing the real Louie running in the Olympics at age 80 but that scene was real footage and not part of Jolie's overdone, overwrought and, yet, uninspiring and yawn inducing vanity project.
I don't know if it was the acting which was flat or the camera not capturing any good acting. Even closeups of Louie's face in excruciating pain or intense emotion stayed right there on the screen and didn't reach the audience. I actually heard laughter during some intense scenes. Huh? I've seen more moving teevee commercials than most of this movie was.
But, Jolie isn't the only one. Many current directors work so hard at 'realism' that it is distracting. The old time directors knew how to create magic on the silver screen without having to put every excruciating detail on film. It's like they want to put a clinical pelvic exam on a video for gynecologists instead of a truly romantic scene with fully clothed actors when romance is the intention.
Bette Davis was scarier as Baby Jane Hudson than the Japanese head of the POW camp.
I just don't understand how Jolie could get it so wrong. Didn't she learn anything from Eastwood's 'Changeling' that left me not caring about anyone in that movie, especially Jolie herself? Even the very short scene of Louie's reunion with his family was so so contrasted to the amount of time spent on the life raft and POW scenes.
It just didn't work and I hate being so critical of a movie based on such a remarkable and extraordinary long life. But, the movie didn't do Louie justice and that's as painful as watching the movie was.