Underachieving Unbroken

Rating: 2/10 (28 May 2015)

When a movie says it is based on a true story you expect the truth.
Having read the book many years ago, I was looking forward to this movie, although a little worried about it being directed by an actor. My concern it seems, was well founded.
Not only should this movie start with "Based on a bit of a true story", it should also state "With a LOT left out!"
Louis Zamperini was a rebel. We don't really get to see that. We aren't shown when he stole a Nazi flag for a souvenir when in Berlin at the Olympics. Little things like this.
Louis Zamperini was also a survivor. The survival in the raft could make an entire movie on its own, yet somehow the direction seemed to reduce its impact. From memory, I think Louis and pals even set a record for surviving in a raft in the Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese were extremely cruel to prisoners, but from the book I don't remember Louis being singled out like he was in the movie. There seemed to be a lot of exaggeration.
Just as the movie seemed to be warming up, it ended.
The shortcut at the end left me feeling short changed. Louis' fight with depression and alcoholism after the war and the way he found religion were major milestones in his life, yet all we get are some words on the screen explaining it all away.
It's almost as if they ran out of money, time, inspiration or all of the above.
It could have been so much better.