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#83 - Unbroken
Angelina Jolie, 2014
Based on the true story of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who joins the Air Force during World War II and is eventually taken prisoner by the Japanese army.
I'm just going to go ahead and say it - Unbroken is not a very good movie. I'll grant that Roger Deakins' cinematography is top-notch as always - striking contrasts and subtle camera movements abound as he shoots his way to his twelfth Oscar nomination (though if he did win for this, it really would feel like a sympathy vote more than anything). I mention the cinematography first up because it really is the best thing about this movie. The story is a fairly thin "against-all-odds" kind of deal that tries to mix things up by having Zamperini's backstory told in two separate flashbacks that both occur as he is having plane trouble (though I do question why there needed to be two separate flashbacks that both occurred in the first half of the film - the resulting pacing is more awkward than if it was just one flashback or even presented chronologically). Between the plane crashing and Zamperini being captured by the Japanese, there's a sequence where he and two other survivors are stuck in a lifeboat for several weeks. I figure this whole segment of the film could have done with some serious trimming - given how much the trailers emphasised Zamperini's time in the prison camp, the whole lifeboat section just feels like padding and is very lacking in suspense, the occasional shark attack notwithstanding.
The prison camp section that takes up the whole second half of the film isn't much better. Zamperini is the only character with any serious development and he still just comes across as naive yet determined to see the war through. His fellow prisoners aren't given much in the way of memorable definition, nor are his Japanese captors. The film's chief villain, "The Bird" (Miyavi), is supposed to be a menacing and unpredictable sadist in the vein of Amon Goeth, but he still comes across as an unfortunate one-dimensional "evil warden" stereotype with only the slightest hints of character development. From there the film just falls into a rut of Zamperini enduring all sorts of physical and mental hardships. It gets to the point where the most interesting thing that happens is Zamperini being offered the chance to avoid prison by co-operating with the Japanese army's propaganda department, but it's also pretty easy to guess the outcome of that little sub-plot. Aside from that, Unbroken is a pretty standard film that lacks decent plot and character development, instead seeking to present a lavishly produced dramatisation of real-life events. Unfortunately, it takes more than just an astounding true story to make a good film - there's next to no suspense, the characters lack depth and the film seems to be ticking off a bunch of seemingly necessary war movie clichés. Still, at least it's shot well.
Angelina Jolie, 2014
Based on the true story of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who joins the Air Force during World War II and is eventually taken prisoner by the Japanese army.
I'm just going to go ahead and say it - Unbroken is not a very good movie. I'll grant that Roger Deakins' cinematography is top-notch as always - striking contrasts and subtle camera movements abound as he shoots his way to his twelfth Oscar nomination (though if he did win for this, it really would feel like a sympathy vote more than anything). I mention the cinematography first up because it really is the best thing about this movie. The story is a fairly thin "against-all-odds" kind of deal that tries to mix things up by having Zamperini's backstory told in two separate flashbacks that both occur as he is having plane trouble (though I do question why there needed to be two separate flashbacks that both occurred in the first half of the film - the resulting pacing is more awkward than if it was just one flashback or even presented chronologically). Between the plane crashing and Zamperini being captured by the Japanese, there's a sequence where he and two other survivors are stuck in a lifeboat for several weeks. I figure this whole segment of the film could have done with some serious trimming - given how much the trailers emphasised Zamperini's time in the prison camp, the whole lifeboat section just feels like padding and is very lacking in suspense, the occasional shark attack notwithstanding.
The prison camp section that takes up the whole second half of the film isn't much better. Zamperini is the only character with any serious development and he still just comes across as naive yet determined to see the war through. His fellow prisoners aren't given much in the way of memorable definition, nor are his Japanese captors. The film's chief villain, "The Bird" (Miyavi), is supposed to be a menacing and unpredictable sadist in the vein of Amon Goeth, but he still comes across as an unfortunate one-dimensional "evil warden" stereotype with only the slightest hints of character development. From there the film just falls into a rut of Zamperini enduring all sorts of physical and mental hardships. It gets to the point where the most interesting thing that happens is Zamperini being offered the chance to avoid prison by co-operating with the Japanese army's propaganda department, but it's also pretty easy to guess the outcome of that little sub-plot. Aside from that, Unbroken is a pretty standard film that lacks decent plot and character development, instead seeking to present a lavishly produced dramatisation of real-life events. Unfortunately, it takes more than just an astounding true story to make a good film - there's next to no suspense, the characters lack depth and the film seems to be ticking off a bunch of seemingly necessary war movie clichés. Still, at least it's shot well.