Failed to meet my high expectations

Rating: 3/10 (27 December 2014)

After reading Hillenbrand's outstanding novel about the incredible life of Louis Zamperini, I was really, really excited to see it come to life in film form. Never have I been more disappointed by a movie.
With such an exciting and inspiring story to work with, prior to seeing this movie, I scoffed at the reviews that said it was boring and repetitive. Yet by stretching the floating adrift at sea scenes out to seemingly real time and portraying basically every single tribulation from his running career and time as a POW in the same exact way, the makers of this movie managed to accomplish the impossible.
Perhaps the only light in the darkness that is this film was the acting of Jack O'Connell. However, Takamara Ishihara was not a good pick for the Bird. His role was the brutalist of the brutal; he reminded me of a fashionable teddy bear. While on the topic of casting, I'd just like to point out that in real life, there were two different copilots in the opening scene and the crash scene. Also, Mac was only in the second crew. In the movie, there was one copilot, and Mac was in both crews. Whether it was being cheap on casting or a lack of attention to detail, I feel like even the most minute disparity from the true story is inexcusable.
Lastly, I know the film was painfully long to begin with, but the ending was extremely weak. Even with the cliché, based on a true story, real footage ending, it still omitted how he coped with PTSD, how he found Christianity, and what happened with the Bird and the other officers. Overall, there was so much potential and so little performance.