Not Impressed

Rating: 5/10 (2 January 2015)

When I first saw the trailers for Unbroken, I had high hopes. It is unfortunate that these hopes were dashed within the starting minutes of the film. While the plot, and acting, is very strong, the rest fell flat. The actors stand out in their roles, making them their own, and the plot felt intense yet inspirational. This should make a great movie about survival, but it doesn't. Everything was there for this movie, it should have been great. The problem with the film is poor direction, poor effects, and, well to put it simply, lack of character development. While the acting was great, it couldn't make me care at all about the characters. I watched knowing the names of almost none of the supporting characters, including that of the family of the main character, and it made me lose interest. Even the main character's development is rushed, and by the end of the movie I didn't care if he lived or died (fully being aware he lives by the way). While the film does attempt to honor the late Louie Zamperini, it simply doesn't convey his story well at all. The movie feels rushed, never allows the audience to care about the characters, is cliché in almost every way, and even relies on a jump scare to keep the audience interested. The film itself should be able to maintain my interest without the use of cheap tricks such as that. If the movie was poorly acted, it would be garbage, but the acting does take it up a notch, but still can't carry this movie to greatness.