I was extremely excited to see Unbroken. The first trailer was breathtaking and looked like such an uplifting story. When the awful reviews started coming out, I lowered my expectations quite a bit. After having seen Unbroken, I could say I was disappointed but it is still a very good film.
THE GOOD:
+ The acting is fantastic. Jack O'Connell is amazing and gives an incredible performance. It really put this guy on the map. The entire supporting cast did great jobs, especially Domhnall Gleeson and Takamasa Ishihara as 'The Bird'.
+ The cinematography and direction are gorgeous. Every scene looks great, especially the ones on the raft.
+ The story is incredible and uplifting. Every single thing that happens to this man seems almost unbelievable. It was so interesting and many of the events were incredibly inspiring. There was one scene with a wooden plank that actually made me misty-eyed.
+ The musical score from the masterful Alexandre Desplat is pretty great, yet forgettable.
+ The pacing is pretty good, and you didn't really feel the very long runtime.
THE BAD:
- The movie really tries hard to be emotional, but often doesn't succeed. I really hoped that the movie had a bigger emotional punch for the incredibly heartbreaking story.
- Unbroken is a Forrest Gump wannabe. From brutal war scenes to an uplifting running sequence, this movie really tried to be a Forrest Gump copy. It was also total Oscar-bait.
- The writing felt a little underwhelming. Some of the conversations felt unrealistic and like the writers tried to slap messages all over this film.
Overall, Unbroken is a very good but underwhelming film. The story is amazing, the acting is great and the movie does have its emotional moments, but the mediocre writing and the clichéd moments really drag it down.
RATING: 7.25/10.
There is a problem with your e-mail address and we are unable to communicate with you. Please go to My Account to update your email.
Please choose a username to sign your comments. Only letters, digits, dash - or period. Minimum 4 characters.
Your age and sex:
We publish all comments, except abusive, at our discretion.
Absolutely right on a great review.