Zamperini's survival story charred by average direction and poor editing

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2015)

What separates a great movie from a good one? Direction? Well, then Jolie misses it by an inch. Albeit, she might reach it someday given the experience she is gradually garnering under her director's tattoo. However sadly she isn't still there.
The biopic we have in hand is a survivor's tale of Louis Zamperini embodied by Jack O' Connell. He isn't a hero exactly, but someone who has been through the ugly guts of war. The drama reeks of war perversion. But at some point it makes you compare it with the likes of 'The Last Castle'. Jack isn't Redford however he still gives his best. Takamasa is not exactly James Gandolfini and misses facial expressions by light years.
Things that were outrageous were: Louis's stint as an athlete a bland story that picked pace without any powerful interest or focus. The story itself did not throw light on any of his heroics except at one point where Louis' decision reflects simply doing the right thing. It misses the point of the movie to show the athlete who inadvertently got lost into war owing to an unfortunate event. The script demanded quality thought spent into the melodrama it should have retained.
Some of the best bits of the movie were placed right at the ingress. Like the fight sequences that were portrayed happening beautifully around the tenacious bomber and manifested through different vantage point via aircrew's eyes. Zamperini's pining for survival in an ocean of sharks marred by devastating hunger (watch out for that albatross bit), punishing tides, hopeful rain, and the dark life that followed therefrom were beautifully shown.
Jolie tries to venture into subtlety by showing the filth of war: trodden books, corpses, loss and grief, however fails to portray the exact image of her emotions through her insipid presentation. The plot just loses focus owing to the slow pace it carries throughout without a lucid screenplay to hold the viewers riveted. Even though the Coen brethren came up with the flick's screenplay it hardly retains all the dramatic substance that matters.
The editing too is pathetic. Her style of film-making is good for dramas, yet what Jolie still needs to find is a really good script that is mesmerized with some class screenplay.
There are some movies that make you pity its ill-fated actor, make you empathize with the protagonist, feel the pain. I was surprised to find out that nothing in this flick made me feel his pain. This again shoots a dozen questions at the direction.
Average alert! Watch only if you have a lot of time to kill.