Checked out Angelina Jolie’s 2nd directorial effort – Unbroken – the true story of Louis Zamporini, a man who grew up during the Great Depression, ran track during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, became a Pacific Theater bombardier, ultimately crashed into the ocean, survived many weeks on a liferaft, was rescued by the Japanese Navy, spent an unknown amount of time in a prisoner of war camp, survived, went home and died… in 2014. Yes, he survived all that, had a book written about him, and ultimately a film was in production this year when he finally gave up the ghost.

Curiously, this is the 2nd movie (also based on a true story) with a similar plot to come out this year… the lesser known movie starred Colin Firth and was called Railway Man… a movie that spent a lot of its time in the post-war years showing the ravages of his experiences and how the man seeks revenge… or forgiveness. Ultimately, Unbroken is a slightly better film in that it moves at a better pace.

Unfortunately, Unbroken doesn’t have a lot of emotional punch beyond “how much abuse can we lump onto this one guy who is, ultimately, unbroken (it’s in the title)?” I had a certain emotional distance from the movie beyond the pain and torment… which is also the feeling I had on 12 Years a Slave. So I guess if you liked that, you’d like Unbroken… or if you couldn’t stomach 12 Years, this one would be tough too.

It IS a good story and it’s told with a certain level of assurance… maybe not a lot of creativity, but with a lot of competency (and it looks very good visually).

The man’s life was more fascinating than the movie they filmed… and I probably would have liked to see some of those events about his life right before the end credits. Though we are given a few photos and real video of the man later in life and that’s probably the most emotionally effective part of the movie.

Score: 86