Perfectly adequate film but without heart

Rating: 4/10 (27 June 2015)

Sometimes actors turned director makes sense - Clint Eastwood as a classic case in point. He is clearly an intelligent humanist who gets to the heart of his stories. Unbroken does not mark Angelina Jolie in the same way. This is a truly terrible tale of human suffering but it leaves you unmoved (and I am a movie crier). I think the lack is in the characterisation - we learn nothing about the subject except that he was an Olympian. When you look at much older films such as Angels with dirty faces which is a very short film but gets you involved in the e protagonist's life straight away and even though he is a bad lot you stay hooked throughout!