Got what I wanted

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2015)

Not having read the book may be better when you watch the movie. I didn't read the book but heard a lot of criticism about how much is cut out of the book especially the ending. For me personally though, I enjoyed most of it. It was well acted, along with enough small humor and disturbing scenes to keep it interesting throughout.
I didn't like that almost half of the film takes place when he gets stranded after the plane crash. 3 guys floating in raft can only be so interesting on film. It was an amazing feat that he survived 45 or so days out at sea and they had to come up with resourceful ways to survive. but 30 minutes of that was a bit much in my opinion.
He then gets "rescued" by the Japanese and goes through all types of torture. These scenes may be hard to watch but it's not graphic just disturbing. Yet this guy pushed through everything and made it to the end of the war alive.
The last scene explains in a few sentences what happens after the movie takes place. This is what most people were upset about. Quite frankly, there is no way this could've been filmed and not have this movie be 4 or 5 hours. I feel that deserves a story of its own. For this particular film, I enjoyed it and got what I expected.